The pros and cons of reclamation

IF one visits Dumaguete City, one is likely to notice campaign-style banners posted here and there among the leftovers from the recent elections bearing the terse message, "No to 174." The signs are evidence of a most remarkable public campaign, a well-organized, popular and evidently successful resistance to a proposed reclamation project that would bury 174 hectares of Dumaguete's waterfront under a P23-billion upscale "smart city" development.