Instead
of the promised multibillion-peso redevelopment of that sorry blot
called Smokey Mountain after Edsa I, what we have is a monument to
folly. Far from being transformed into a dynamic enclave of the
empowered dis-possessed, it has turned for the worse. Instead of just
hosting a “mountain of garbage,” it now also hosts a “coal mountain” as
Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones exposed recently.Worse, the residents of the unfinished model community now have to contend with paying exorbitant fees for their basic utilities like power and water courtesy of the concessionaires which were only too happy to “re-connect” the families to the basics at the cost of an arm and a leg.
It appears that only the contractor/developer — the Reghis Romero Group of Companies — not the residents has its fortunes turn for the better. Such has been the sad turn of events that the Romero Group has been able to parlay that original contract into multibillion-peso other joint ventures with government including, by some magical arrangement, putting up a coal yard at its reclaimed Harbour Centre despite the existing Writ of Kalikasan issued by the Supreme Court on such undertakings within the Manila Bay influenced areas..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/commentary/item/1288-deadly-mix-at-smokey-mountain
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