The Lamentable History of CDO Development
Once upon a time, there was a poblacion small and quaint, and purposely traversed by a tree-lined park called Divisoria. it was a dull and lazy town by all accounts.
People gathered around that community, mostly walking from one corner to the other via its narrow unpaved streets, either to do daily communal chores or to visit. If not, then using the few cars available. 0r via the ubiquitous tartanillas which noisily clip-clopped around its graveled streets.
Traffic gridlock was non-existent. Not even the concept of vehicular traffic bothered its consciousness. Nonetheless, nobody in his right mind considered the situation as one of privation or a sad status of under-privileged living.
Then it started growing.
The public market situated right in the middle of the named park got dirty and unwieldy. So it was quickly moved to an outlying area covered with cogon grass. The unwieldy congestion in the poblacion was immediately relieved.
Years later, the market in Cogon got unruly, so it became necessary to open up Agora market which is geographically I believe part of old Puntod.
More years later, the poblacion now turned into a fast-growing city had to spread out to nearby Lapasan to accommodate the burgeoning growth and to try and mitigate the lurking traffic situation. The birth of the local mall was the immediate result.
Aside from all these, the city starting bursting at the seams, from west to east. From Carmen to Puerto. From southwest to southeast. All these giving actuality to the monstrosity we now call traffic.
So the entire uptown (Lumbia) was opened up and rapid development started with the earnest hope of spreading out the city and relieving the growing traffic situation. And a so-called nascent "metropolis" was being nurtured and nursed.
But one thing for certain, none of these good-intentioned moves have improved the perceived traffic situation, long enough to be noticed and appreciated. Instead what is undeniable, all these brought more rather than less traffic problems.
The hydra being curbed has instead grown more loathsome heads. Ironic for a city the size of which is almost 420 square kilometers with population counted at well under a million.
