Photo by Summer Untalan
There is no doubt that it is the “City of Fun and Adventure.” From the majestic Mayon Volcano to the other beautiful picturesque tourist spots, Legazpi City, the capital of the Albay province will remain a top tourist destination in the country.
On the other hand, every coin has two sides. The City is not all cupcakes and rainbows; there is always a thing or two to counteract all the positive things listed above. We all know that Legazpi is known to be the ‘Queen City of Bicol’ and every queen has its people. The queen’s people are a big part of shaping and building the city particularly one that has risen to a high standard.
They say that to make something to keep on operating or something to be successful, balance is needed. The philosophy of man that everybody should not be rich or that there should be at least a number of people that will remain poor to keep the balance is an example of that.
I’ll go straight to the point. There is a village in Legazpi that is the complete polar opposite of the fancy life of the city – the Victory Village. This village is located just beside the famous Embarcadero de Legazpi. Compared to the city which is very much spacious, this village has houses that are compressed to each other and aside from that, there is a huge tall wall that separates them from the me tropolis with a narrow passage that serves as their gate just enough to fit an average car.
Last February 9, 2017, there was a fire that emerge in the village that caused 400 residents to lose their homes. The fire turned 80 houses into ashes because it wasn’t easily put out due to the fact that the village has narrow passages and not enough space for the fire truck to fit. Just by looking at the village in bird’s eye view, you cannot really deny that the place is very dangerous when it comes to fire hazards.
It is understandable that the city needs developments for future purposes, but the safety of the Queen’s people should be high on the list of priorities. The people play a big part in making a city successful; without them, there is no queen. The people should not be the prisoners of their own city.
The case of the Victory Village is just one of many others regarding the safety of the people in Legazpi City. There are also cases of snatching and pick-pocketing close to the malls wherein the most common victims are students. The worst part is the CCTVs in the area where the snatching takes place is coincidentally broken or there are no CCTVs at all.
Also, the traffic jam because of the road widening makes it very risky for commuters and students because unexpected accidents might happen because there are really undisciplined drivers everywhere and sometimes the “No helmet, no travel” policy isn’t observed.
Furthermore, the safety is not the only problem here. We know that as the infrastructure in the city increases, the land space also decreases and the bad thing is overcrowding might occur. With too much population comes too much pollution which will lead to worsen traffic and eventually, a slower pace of travel time for motorists and commuters.
The bright side of these ongoing changes in Legazpi City is that more business establishments are rising and the city that was once a small city is now one of the famous business hubs and sometimes hosts of some national conventions because of the good facilities that the city has.
𝙋𝙊𝙄𝙉𝙏 & 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙏
𝙍𝙤𝙢𝙖 𝙅𝙤𝙮 𝙋𝙖𝙙𝙧𝙚
𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚: 𝙉𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧, 2018
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