Alright, so I wouldn’t normally jump on the current events bandwagon, feels kinda cheap. But this? This is too big to ignore.
Here’s the deal (for those who haven’t heard): some folks decided to, well, desecrate a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Chocolate Hills in Bohol, to be specific. They’re sticking a whole damn resort right in the middle of it.
Seriously? How tone-deaf can you get? Like, how did this even get past regulations? Easy answer, probably: the government just doesn’t seem to give a flying fig about preserving land.
Is everything just up for grabs now? Building on any empty space somehow translates to progress? Ugh. Taxes, that’s all they care about, right? Remember Torre de Manila, the infamous “photobomber” that ruined the Rizal Monument view? Those higher-ups? Zoning? Screw that. Buildings = progress = money (and yeah, they do make money).
Local governments? All over the place on this. Don’t tell me they don’t know about zoning, protected areas, or basic common sense when it comes to what goes where. They’re not idiots.
Take the local government near me. Greenlighted a monstrosity of a high-rise right across the street in a residential zone. Smart, I’ll give them that. Smart enough to know what gets ignored and, hey, a quick buck is a quick buck. Houses and churches don’t exactly bring in the big bucks, right?
Here’s the kicker, folks. And yes, I know this might sound like political shilling, but Pasig gets it. They prioritize proper planning over short-term gains. Buildings, resorts, condos – all good things, but not when they’re done without a damn thought.
And don’t even get me started on the never-ending reclamation projects along Manila Bay’s shorelines.
Look, there’s a saying: unchecked growth is basically cancer. This whole Chocolate Hills thing? That’s cancer, plain and simple. And we gotta stop it.
Disclosure: I edited this with Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. I use it more as an editor or a co-writer than a ghost writer. I feed it with a dense rambling (an initial draft of sorts) and I ask it to turn it into at least something that’s readable while preserving my voice and still keeping intact what I want to say — and how I want to say it. I love it, it helps me a lot especially since I do a lot of things on the side. Time is gold. But use AI responsibly, folks.