Proem

According to the result of the survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Tagbilaran City is the best city in the Philippines to live in.

This distinction is a salute to the people and the leadership in Tagbilaran City. However, this distinction is a double-edged sword. It is both a blessing and a burden.

As the saying goes, "Weary is the head that wears the crown."

Excellent

Tagbilaran City is adjudged as excellent in terms of comfort, basic needs, food, shelter, health, education, environment, safety, and security. The people of Tagbilaran have the aforementioned amenities at an affordable price.

Free School Supplies and Medical Care

Cited as among the outstanding "pro people" programs of the City Government is the free school supplies and the "blue card" system for free hospitalization for the poor. These are the good things that may soon become a burden.

Magnet for the Poor

The pro-poor stance of the City of Tagbilaran has already attracted the poor from other places to live in Tagbilaran. Only on its second year of implementation, the free school supplies has already attracted 348 additional school children coming from the neighboring towns of Tagbilaran. It is expected that next school year there will be more. And who will pay for the "free school supplies?" It will be the taxpayers of Tagbilaran City.

The "blue card" is given to the poor families identified by the City DSWD and City Health Department. If you have the "blue card" you will be entitled to "free hospitalization" at the Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital. The requirement for eligibility is five years residency in the City of Tagbilaran. The hospitalization is not actually free because the City of Tagbilaran will pay for it.

These programs by the City Government are laudable. It shows that the government cares for the people. The problem is, more poor people from other places will come to Tagbilaran. They will live as squatters and after five years they will become eligible for support.

Botìka sa Katawhan or Drugstore of the People is a laudable project of Deputy Mayor Mario Uy. He will endeavor to obtain medicines and give it to the needy in Tagbilaran. His plan is to obtain the medicines for all types of sickness.

Since only the city of Tagbilaran will do it, the Botika sa Katawhan is a very strong magnet that would attract the poor people from other places.

Lessons from Other Places

When New York City implemented its total free care for the poor people of the City of New York, it attracted so many poor people from other places. In ten years time the City of New York went bankrupt. Why? Because it attracted the wrong type of people - the liability-type instead of the asset-type.

A few years ago, the State of California went bankrupt for similar reasons. The people of California had to undergo a recall election to replace their governor that caused the bankruptcy of the State.

Comment

The City of Tagbilaran is already an expensive place compared to other towns in Bohol. However, the situation is still tolerable when compared to other cities in the Philippines. In fact it is adjudged to be the best city in the Philippines to live in. if the trend continues, then it will be better to live in the neighboring towns and send your children to school in Tagbilaran. Some people have realized this already.

As respectable citizens in the city, it is our duty to care for the poor among us.

However, how can we prevent the poor from other places to come to Tagbilaran? If all the poor people in Bohol, about 290,000 of them, will come to live in Tagbilaran, how can we support them? This number is almost three times the population of Tagbilaran City.

If we will insist to support them, then we will go the same way as New York City and the State of California that went bankrupt.

There is a saying which says, "Give a man a fish and he will come back for more. Teach him how to fish, and he will come back no more."

The support to the poor must not be a pure dole out. Maybe we can devise a system similar to the "Emergency Employment" utilized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help the poor after the economic collapse in 1930. The beneficiaries must somehow pay in order to salvage their self-esteem.