Tahanan Village Residents need P66M for Maynilad Services?

Public service time.

I chanced upon an open letter addressed to P-Noy published in The Philippine Catholic Herald. The letter was written by senior citizens with an appeal for Maynilad services. Water is essential to everyone. If basic utilities such as this is still unreachable to middle class families, then there's still a long way to go for this country. I have reprinted the letter in this space to help the older generation use electronic media to seek help and support.

I shall also be sending a copy of this directly to a friend who can hopefully give our senior citizens the proper reply needed.

Here's the letter:

An open letter to our beloved president Noy

We, concerned residents, mostly retirees are appealing for your kind intervention to solve our water problem.

The Maynilad Water Services, Inc. has informed our subdivision that the financing needed is about Sixty Six Million Pesos (P66M) to install water system and to enable them to install individual water connection.

It is worth making "sumbong"to His Excellency that our present water bills are comparably higher than our neighboring subdivisions like BF Homes, Teoville, etc. Perhaps there is a "straight method" or "paraang matuwid"which can provide us an affordable contract for our water needs through your assistance.

We, the old generation, will treat this us your legacy to our heirs who belong to new generations.


Thank you.
-Concerned Residents of Tahanan Village
Paranaque City

The Place to Be: South of the Metropolis

Thirty five years.

That's how long I have lived in the southern suburbs of Metro Manila. I live in a middle-class suburb with my family. We live in the same village as that of my parents, in-laws and relatives. The south is what molded me. This is the same place where my kids, now all teen-agers, have taken their roots.

Our village is accessible via three main arteries: SLEX Sucat exit, Ninoy Aquino Avenue, and the Coastal Road. We also have three village entrances: Sucat road in Paranaque City, Naga Road in Las Pinas City, and the C5 extension also in Las Pinas. Around us are the malls of SM (there are four branches nearby), Ayala, Festival, and Starmall. In the vicinity are lots of schools, colleges, a university and major southern hospitals. The nightlife is as vibrant as shopping. If you're in the mid-to-high socio-economic class, you must be living in the south. Everything is here.

By my definition, the south metro includes: Paranaque, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa, Cavite, Laguna, and Batangas. Some include Quezon. So, once you take the SLEX, you're in for a happy road trip to the south. A leisurely drive for a day with lots of stop-overs will surely take you to as far as Batangas City or its nearby towns and beaches. If you take the Aguinaldo highway, you'll pass by Cavite's coastal towns and go up the mountain city of Tagaytay.

The past fifteen years has seen full throttle development in the south. Mostly brought about by economic zones in Cavite and Laguna, spurring residential and commercial center develpment. Senator Manny Villar's Camella Homes sparked the boom in low-cost housing in the south. So it's no wonder the major highways he has lobbied to be built passed through or connected his companies' real estate holdings. Nothing personal. It's purely business. I don't complain. The guy reimbursed me in full when I had my deposit for a property in Molino, Cavite refunded. Now that's another story to tell.

So finally, after many years in this beloved suburb, I shall be doing a chronicle of the happenings -- good or bad -- down south. There are a lot of places and happenings I could have written about in years past. For being a busy bee, I just couldn't find the time. But anytime's a good time to start. I'm using my vacation leave to go back to writing. So here goes...till next time!