One of the reasons that Davao City and neighboring communities attract so many tourists are the rare and beautiful sights that behold visitors.
But of course, there are now so many amazing places to go and see, on earth, beyond what we were taught to be the Seven Wonders of the World in our grade school days.
The multi-trillion dollar travel and tour industry is responsible for assigning many more sights to see and enjoy. Yes, “ a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” as John Keats, the short-lived British poet, romanticized in his poem “Endymion.”
And so it is that it has become customary of government to preserve and protect what it calls heritage sites. Heritage being an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. (It may be any building, landscape, site or structure that is of local, regional or national significance).
Ergo, Mt. Apo, the undisputed highest peak in the country, is a heritage site. Likewise the amazing Island Garden City of Samal, as seen from the city. Dava Oriental’s Mt. Hamiguitan, which harbors a dwarf forest and the sleeping dinosaur of Pujada Island in Mati City are in this category.
It is therefore not surprising that a Davao City ordinance numbered 92, bans the construction of advertising signboards that obstruct the view of heritage sites.
The constitutionality of this ordinance has been upheld in a recent decision of the Supreme Court.
Now, proposed amendments to this piece of legislation are being tackled by a committee headed by Councilor Danilo C. Dayanghirang. The amendments involve other sites where giant billboards are prohibited in order not to block the view of the heritage sites. The fate of the amendments will be known anytime when the City Council lawmakers vote on them.
One thing is certain – – preserving the view of heritage sites would be a never-ending task. The building boom in Davao City would make it so.
This is so because some structures being built now are sure-fire candidates to be sites of political, historical, and even cultural significance. These big-ticket projects are the first road tunnel of the country (part of the Davao By-pass Road), the Davao-Samal Island connector bridge, the Mindanao Railway and the fantastic Davao Coastal Road about to be completed.
And so, in less than five years, there would be need for additional amendments to the ordinance.
