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Nora Soriño .

ILIGAN City — A pedestrian bridge in Miami, Florida collapsed a few days ago, the world news tell us. It left several people dead and scores hospitalized with some people  also missing in its aftermath. This occurred a few days after the structure was completed and used by pedestrians. The lead engineer had warned a few days earlier before said collapse of “some cracks in the bridge” but these were taken for granted.

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Watching that horrible news, I said to a friend, Dennis, a mechanical engineer: “The engineers in that project barely passed the ‘Strength of Materials’ subject in engineering.”

He looked at me and said with a smile: “They did not use ‘Republic Cement.’” That’s the plant here where he is working with.

“Right,” I said. The point is, cement is used all over the world, be it in Florida or elsewhere. And there are plenty of these factories, and other industries in this city.

I don’t know if the friendships here are golden, but this sure is “the industrial city of the south.” Many don’t agree with this anymore, now preferring to say, “The industrial city… nga nasawot.” Hahaha.

But this is no laughing matter really, come to think of it. There are still industries here like cement and others But many had disappeared, too, including  its crown jewel, the National Steel Corp., which is now a shell, or a ghost of a not-so-distant past — meaning, it’s there, but no longer there and you know what I mean, like the snail that has left its house.

These things came into mind as this writer listened to the “talkers” who are members of the so-called NSC Technical Working Group. Hearing them talk with so much passion, I can almost see the once proud plant rising again. Somehow, the movie “Babangon ako at dudurugin kita” came to life. No, it’s not that on second thought. As its translation is not good like, “I will rise up and pulverize you.” Rather it is, “I will rise up and make this city great again.” The latter is glorification while the former is vengeance.

That is supposedly not to be ours as in “Vengeance is not ours.”  Now from where did I pick that up?

It was said and joked around that the employees of the plant during its heyday were patrons of diners, restos, bars and similar establishments which experiened good business. And when their NSC clients ran out of money, they just threw around their jackets and well, the “fun” continues because they saw good  collateral in them.

Not to be outdone, the wives plotted to have their erring hubbies “punished.” There were “accidents” then for the errant men which left their bitter halves no longer bitter but becoming millionaires overnight. We don’t have to explain why this was so. One can go, figure that out. Anyway, those were only loose talk. The NSC then boasted of around 4,000 employees coming from this city and elsewhere in the country.

Gone are the days and Engr. Bert Oller and Atty. Voltaire Rovira, members of technical group, could only talk about it with nostalgia. Making them talk with so much passion,  even bordering on obsession.

Hearing them talk, they seem to say that they are sure of themselves. And know what they are talking about. “The city has come a long way, from a mere bystander, to a leading player,” said Rovira.

This is after the mills have been silenced because of its shutdown in 1999. For its Malaysian investors, the Hottick and the Wieng Tek collapsed under the weight of its banking debts of over  P10 billion. It was re-operated by an Indian company in 2004 but closed a few years later, as it was just  another  sorry “debt” story. (People referred to them as “suwitik stories.”)

They talk about the action plans, comparing them with what is being done so far about those plans. I mean, this current technical group. Like making a no nonsense inventory of the assets inside the more than 600-hectare grounds:  the cold mill, hot mill, billet plant, the pier, etc.

It is possible, they say, that NSC will rise again citing inherent advantages like the “eternal” supply of limestone. Or the inherently deep waters along its pier. They are doing their homework, doing “due diligence.” For there are many interested investors and this technical group is doing “due diligence,” too. In other words, “background checks” on these prospective investors. Lessons in the past have been learned, they say. And I should say,  one lesson, among others is that the NSC then had ignored “the cracks.” Before it collapsed. Like that bridge in Miami…

The faith though of this technical group is contagious. And faith, it is said can move mountains.

So, is it possible that those glory days of the National Steel Corp. would come back?

Maybe. Or maybe not. As in “ambot.” Like that mother  pig who said, “I don’t know son, who your father is, because… because, I was not in control of the circumstances, and I did not see him when that happened,” hi hi hi, I know you have another version of this one…

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