CONSTRUCTION and project development is a business, and no one will invest any money in it unless there is an assured return of investment. It is as simple as that, and there is no way around it.
Of course, there could be other factors to consider such as the love of arts and culture or even a profound love for our country, but the project proponents would still have to make money, otherwise it’s a no go.
That is precisely the dilemma of developers who are planning to restore, preserve or rehabilitate some historic or cultural sites that are located all over the country. Because of their love for arts and culture, it becomes a “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” situation for them.
Damn if they do, because they could possibly lose money, but also damn if they don’t, because these national treasures could be lost forever.
It would not be realistic to depend on the government to fund these projects, because there are too many sites to save, and there is usually very little money to spend. The solution therefore is a public and private partnership (PPP) approach, perhaps in the form of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme.
I have always liked the idea of a BOT scheme because it is a win-win situation wherein both the private proponent and the government partner could make money.
Other than the funding, what is needed is an adaptive use approach, wherein the project still becomes commercially viable, even if the architectural design is kept intact.
THE ROOTS OF CORRUPTION
It is generally known that about one third of the national budget is eaten up by graft and corruption, and that does not even include the local budgets of local government units (LGUs).
What are the causes of graft and corruption and how do we prevent it? Or probably just reduce it if we could?
It seems that we have already passed all the laws and have already created all the government agencies that we could, to prevent or reduce graft and corruption, but it persists, and has become so pervasive that it now affects every aspect of our life. For example, it is graft and corruption that is the cause of our very high poverty rate.
I always say that corruption is the cause of graft, but what is the cause of corruption?
Without any doubt, I say that the cause of corruption is sin, or the propensity to commit sin, because corruption is simply just stealing, and stealing is a sin.
But who are the thieves? Are they not the civil servants who probably belong to a church?
And who are supposedly opposed to sin?
I think that the real problem here is that these “church goers” have created a wall between their “faith”, and their thievery. This wall allows them to dichotomize what they do inside their churches and inside their public offices, thinking perhaps that these two worlds are not connected, thinking as well that stealing is not a sin, and that they could get away with it.
The only way that they could save their souls is to break down these walls and ask forgiveness from God./PN
