Mayor Lim all praises to De la Serna's gesture

Mayor Dan Lim yesterday lauded the gesture of lawyer Victor de la Serna to allow the city government to use the land owned by his family for the city's drainage system. “This is what we should bear in mind. The example given by Atty. De la Serna for all of us should not be in vain. More than just the piece of land that he owned, the city and the people are beneficiaries of this benevolence for everybody's benefit. This is real community concern,” Lim stressed.

The mayor noted that without a doubt, one of the topics of discussions in the city these days are the on-going works on the drainage system and the road concreting project. “We can no longer keep track of the complaints heard about this project because of the inconvenience that it causes,” Lim added. The mayor said everyone knows the necessity of applying treatment to an ailment. “One of the leading problems of the city are the deteriorating state of our roads and the neglected drainage system,” he noted.

Lim said the city government negotiated with concerned authorities to ensure that the project will not stop at the road concreting but will include the drainage system because failure to do so would exacerbate the city's problem with floods. The mayor said that de la Serna's offer was crucial because the drainage problem would not mean much if it did not lead to a proper exit. Lim said de la Serna's offer is the solution to the major headache that the city was facing.

“Major not because it is difficult to solve but because no other citizen was willing to allow the city government to use his property for the use of the project,” he added. Lim paid tribute to de la Serna whom he described as “a distinguished son of the city”. A bar topnotcher, de la Serna was also a member of the 1972 Constitutional Convention. Lim said he was not surprised by de la Serna's unselfish gesture because “a major challenge required the response from a rare citizen”.

The mayor said de la Serna had always stood up for what he believed was right: preferring to return to Tagbilaran despite being a member of the California bar, giving a good account of himself against the Marcos first during the Con-Con and later in the Martial Law years. “Even when he is fighting lonely battles, even when only very few are willing to join him, this has never been an obstacle to him,” the mayor said. Lim said that while many people fear him for his strong personality, this does not mean that de la Serna is not a positive influence on the community. “People have the right to criticize when there are government excesses, but they should also consider their responsibilities to it,” he added. Lim said that in offering the use of his land, de la Serna has shown that he is willing to contribute his share for the greater good of the community.

l