Save Davao Shrine Hills

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Many residents of Ma-a, including the Ma-a home-owners association, are very worried about the future of our habitat.

-Will that be one where flooding of our homes is a way of life?

-Will that be one where we live in fear of landslides, rock falls and landslides, each time there is heavy rain or an earthquake?

-Will that be one where the short-term capital gains of a few, will negatively influence the lives of thousands of people?

We don’t say no to any kind of responsible development. We only say no to a fast-track denuding of the Shrine Hills, without a “real transparent,” independent comprehensive study, where short-term profit will be weighted against the welfare of the majority of our residents. Let’s stop or at least wait, to give any further go-ahead to new developments, until such a study proves that we can face future generations, without having to say: “Sorry, We didn’t know”. Let’s stop blaming man-made disasters on “It’s the will of God”, but instead use our God-given intelligence to weight down the consequences of our decisions. Let’s balance the pros and contras of a rapid denuding and developing of the Shrine Hills in a transparent long-term concept or vision.

Pro: – Short-term capital gains of some landowners and developers.

- Temporary employment of some residents.

- Higher tax-income for our City Government.

Contra: – High risks of landslides, rock-falls and flash-flooding.

- Over-saturation of local drainage systems, due to the quick rundown rainwaters, causing flooding in many more homes than there ever might be built on the flanks of the Shrine Hills.

- Future high costs for the City Government, to repair the mitigating (protecting against lands-slides etc, on places where they cut in the hills) measures  now proposed by the developers. We have to realize, that any mitigating measure will not last forever. Will the future home-owners associations on Shrine Hills, be wealthy enough to shoulder these repairs, which easily can reach tens of millions of pesos? Or will the developers , once they turn over the subdivision, out of the goodness of their hart , still shoulder these costs?

We have a landmark in the middle of the city, which is rare, green and beautiful, oxygen-producing, helping to keep local temperatures down and creating cool breezes….Which city in the world isn’t jealous of that….and we might give it up!

What will the future generations say about us? Will they say that we acted as real caring “City-Fathers”, by open-mindedly, resourcefully and responsibly making decisions for the good of the people? Or will they say that we light-headedly acted with dollar-signs in the eyes , thinking that no information is good information ?

Let’s not start on a path of NO RETURN without a proper INDEPENDENT STUDY!