CEBU, Philippines - My name is Dr. Efren S. Valiente, Past President of Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Everything really started after the EDSA Revolution in February 1986. Back then there were only 50,000 vehicles plying the streets of Metro Cebu. In six (6) short years the number of vehicles increased by 70,000 making it 120,000 in 1992. Having many vehicles on the street of Cebu was indicative of economic growth because after EDSA, many foreign new money came to invest in Cebu MEPZ. That’s why from only 8 MEPZ companies employing 3,000 employees in 1986, the number went up to almost a hundred companies employing about 30,000 employees in 1992.
I am an original member of the think tank group organized by visionary Governor Lito Osmeña. We had a master plan, or some called them “dreams” of the future. We already foresaw all these things and planned what infrastructures are needed to make those dreams come to reality. Putting up infrastructures is mainly the responsibility of the government simply because they are the main source of funding to build infrastructures.
Cebu is only one of the close to 140 cities and only one of the 80 provinces in the country. The central government is the only source of funding for everyone which sorts overall requests which in turn are assigned their respective priorities. Government also follow their procedures to process and release these funds which could take years if not decades.
Knowing all these, Governor Lito Osmeña still proceeded with all those plans, knowing only little funding could be sourced out from central government. Major parts of funding were sourced out from international development finance agencies, that was why we had MCDP 1, 2 and 3. With little government funding which they called equity and majority foreign funding, major infrastructure projects were undertaken and completed like the Fernan Bridge, the widening of major thoroughfares throughout Metro Cebu and many more.
In situations like these, we just have to settle for what we already have, even if they look like piecemeal, partial or on installment. It is not band-aid solution because funding realities require us to be practical about what we get from central government. What we got we should use. It would not be good to throw away the P550m already approved for these projects.
I endorse these 2 flyovers. (FREEMAN)