⌛ SU Portal West elevator

It s**ks!!! Really, as in, seriously....I'm one with much patience and tolerance but today, or early tonight, rather, was the last straw on the camel's back. So, here I am sharing with you a horrible thing that I hope would get the concerned authorities' due attention. There is a new elevator now running full swing at the Portal West and the poor thing, not even two months old yet, is already taking quite a lot of beating. First day of operations, a few weeks back, and it didn't take long for the scum bag users to scribble on the shiny interior walls of the elevator. Graffiti is acceptable to me, mind you. But when it boils down to vandalism, that is something right at the bottom of my S*** list. Worse than that, tonight somebody threw spit all over the push buttons of the elevator it made me cringe when I heard it from my niece! How could somebody do something so crass? OK, so I was upset about it because I had to use the stairs (from the 3rd floor) going down, but that's not the point here. Going up and down several flights of stairs is good cardio exercise for me...Hard to believe there are repulsive people out there, right in the heart of Silliman U, at the Portal West where majority of the people who hang out there are students!!!! :( Take it from me, I am there almost everyday so I know. Just recently, bystanders have been banned from hanging out at the Portal West after Bloods and Crips reportedly crossed paths (again!) The SU Founders' Day celeb is fast approaching and alumni and guests from all over the world are coming to Duma. So, what to do about it? Well, one person who learned about the incident suggested to install a spy camera inside the elevator to catch the vandals and hopefully, they will be punished accordingly. Writing on elevator walls doesn't speak much about Duma being the city of gentle people, does it?

 

Hi bold.and.beautiful,
What is Duma getting into? Vandalism, and last week a cold bloody murder of a business owner (shot twice). Is it plain craziness, lots of idol time, or just because????

 

The Philippines has always adopted American style and culture. Unfortunately lowest and most violent parts seem to be followed most readily. It is strange that the crips and the bloods which are products of the ghettos and impoverished inner cities of the states appear in the Philippines as university fraternities.
Kenny

 

Be calm...

Be calm... Dumaguete City is no longer the same city that I used to be with [I finished my Elementary Education from City Central School in 1977, my Secondary Education from Dumaguete City High School in 1981 and my College Degree from Silliman University in 1985] some 3 decades ago... probably the experience you encountered, right in the heart of SU, was merely incidental... Still, I believe, the people of the city is "gentle."

 

In Dumaguete, BLOODS are mainly composed of students, many belonging to prominent families, while CRIPS are a lot older and mostly out-of-school youth. Police intelligence say they are merely COPYCATS and not in any way connected to the real street gangs in the US who are into big-time stuff like drug peddling and espousing violence. Not to worry, the provincial police director has proposed to declare the BLOODS and CRIPS in DUMA as criminal gangs and come up with a master watchlist of members. Hopefully, the gang culture in Duma will die a natural death. Wait-and-see!

 

Hi Kinhason 2,

Well, I guess we just have to accept that Duma is growing (honestly, I have a hard time accepting). And with growth comes a rise in crime as well. But, as the mayor says, the crime rate here is nothing compared to larger urban areas like Cebu or Metro Manila.

 

HI ROQUETIBOR!

I was born and bred in good ol' Duma. I remember those days (in the 80s and even part of the 90s) when it was safe to go walking around the city at past midnight without fear of being mugged. Nowadays, it's hard not to look over your shoulder and see if snatchers on a motorbike are trailing you. And oh, back then, during my college years at SU (batch '87), campus violence was prominent! No Bloods and Crips then, but there were rival frats that always figured in violent and sometimes bloody confrontations. But, I agree with you...Duma is still a city of gentle people, sort of....

 

i agree with bold.and.beautiful, i have tried using the elevator only once, and i don't want to use it again..vandalism is everywhere..the elevator is very dirty..and smelly..

 

Probably, it is a manner of informing the building administrator so it can be monitored and maintained free of vandalism...

 

I was telling the guards to tell the building administrator (he was not around when I went there) that the best solution maybe would be to put a CCTV camera not just inside the elevator but the whole building itself. And seriously apprehend the perpetrators when they get out of the elevator so would-be vandals would think twice when doing some mischief there. In the meantime, they were proposing to detail a guard or an elevator man/woman to man the elevator.

The embassies of five countries (US, EU, Japan, Korea, etc.) though, still think that Dumaguete is a gentle city and the best place for their citizens to retire. I do think that Dumaguete is the best city in the Philippines.