No sweet harvest this time in Medellin

IT’S not only Christmas that’s bleak for the people and local governments in northern Cebu, but the next six months at least, if they can recover that fast at all.

In Medellin, for example, the economy is so battered that the town’s treasurer, Ruth Gillamac sees zero prospective income across sectors in the next six months.

The town is the sugar bowl of Cebu, and was promoted as the golfing capital of the north and the eco-adventure tourism capital of northern Cebu.

It has municipal waters both in the eastern and western side of Cebu island, so fishing was a thriving industry. But Yolanda has erased all that. What’s left of the town are signs of desolation and despair – houses gone, fallen trees, destroyed tourism facilities, damaged crops, unusable boats, tattered government buildings and schools torn to shreds.

No harvest

The milling season was supposed to start last November 11. But no sugarcane harvest ever started. About half of the town’s 51,000 population are dependent on sugarcane farms which cover up to 70 percent of the town’s total land area.

The Bogo-Medellin Sugar Milling Corporation (Bomedco) has never seen such destruction since it was built in 1928. Declared a local heritage site, the withering of age-old giant acacia trees within its compound say it all.

The next milling season was moved to January. If not for Yolanda, thousands of sugarcane workers would have received their first week’s salary of the milling season last Saturday, Nov. 16. The same is true for another landmark in the town, the ALA Mercedes Golf Course. Its water tank toppled to the ground, pine trees felled, its structures left roofless.

A group of Koreans who were supposed to arrive November 15 and were scheduled to tour around “FUNtastic Medellin sites” e-mailed to cancel their trip.

Gibitngil Island, whose 400 households had never known what it was to have Christmas lights or watch television or sing in the karaoke, until last December when the municipal government facilitated the establishment of solar power connection in each household will again have only the stars in the skies twinkling this season.

The island had also became the banner for Medellin’s tourism promotions when bridges and cottages were constructed on its rocks, complete with zip-lines, kayaking and other recreational water activities dubbed as “Funtastic Island.” Yolanda blew away all the solar lamps, along with all of the island’s tourism gains.

Another tourist spot the local government established and which was already earning for the municipality was the “Hideaway” in Barangay Tindog. Yolanda destroyed the 500-meter bridge along with its cottages and the local income it brought.

The “Zipaway” in barangay Caputatan Norte which drew thousands of tourists for its zipline, cable car, tarzan jump and its rural scenery of rolling hills, green plains and hilltop view of the San Remigio bay was also a casualty.

In one fishing village in Medellin, only two of the many boats remained, and both needed repairs. All the rest Yolanda either sank or tore to pieces.

A local worker availed of P600,000 loan to establish a bangus business, but it has been all wiped out. Now the problem is how to repay the loan.

Market roofs were blown away, stalls were damaged and stocks water-damaged, so the treasurer does not expect to be able to collect taxes from local businesses. Real property taxes will be collected, but for sure taxpayers will not be able to pay right away. Business taxes are supposed to come in January of each year.

No trisikad or tricycles could be seen plying the roads. With people having no work and no income, and with stores closed, there were no passengers to transport. But a popular bakery in Poblacion has opened to bake bread with its generator supplying the needed power for its ovens. There was bread amidst the bakery’s smashed roof and broken walls, and that itself is a glimmer of hope. /Jeanette Malinao, Copy editor