32 brgy captains snub ABC assembly

CEBU, Philippines - Thirty-two Cebu City barangay captains snubbed the fourth general membership assembly of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) yesterday.

Some of them attended Team Rama south district congressional aspirant Aristotle Batuhan’s gathering.

The event yesterday seemed to be another test to identify the barangay captains allied with either Team Rama or Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK).

But Batuhan said it was only incidental that his get-together party with the south district barangay captains coincided with the ABC 4th General Assembly held at the South Road Properties.

He said the get-together party was scheduled over a month ago and he did not even know that the ABC general membership assembly was also scheduled on the same day.

“Mine was a simple holiday get-together. If most of the south district barangay officials chose to attend my gathering, they certainly did so of their own free will, without coercion or intimidation,” said Batuhan.

During Batuhan’s get-together party, barangay officials who attended were given some assistance for their barangay Christmas party mostly in kind as prizes for their games and contests.

South District Rep. Tomas R. Osmeña delivered a message before the barangay captains during the ABC General Assembly where he reiterated the reason why the City Council is not in favor of selling the SRP lots at this time.

Osmeña believed that because of the ongoing development introduced by the Filinvest Land Incorporated (FLI) and SM Prime Holdings Corporation at the SRP, the price of the SRP lots will surely escalate to even P40,000 per square meter three to four years from now.

He said this is the time that the city will sell the SRP lots, through staggered basis, to finance not only the payment of the city’s debt to Japan, but also for the granting of college scholarship to deserving students who graduated from the various public high schools in the city.

Osmeña said he is sure that because of the traffic congestion problem experienced in several parts of the city, the investors will choose to invest at the SRP, which will then be 20 to 30 minutes from the airport.

Osmeña said he will try his best to secure the necessary funding for the construction of at least two tunnels at the intersections of Serging Osmeña Avenue formely McArthur Boulevard near the Radisson Blu Hotel and General Maxilom Avenue extension.

He added that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) also is planning to widen Serging Osmeña Avenue into an eight-lane road.

At present, there is another road situated inside the port area and Osmeña said the plan is to make that road as part of Serging Osmeña Avenue, while probably expanding some part of the former McArthur Boulevard.

Osmeña said once the road improvement project will be completed, the travel time from the airport to SRP will surely be reduced to only 20 minutes.

“From the airport to IT Park or Ayala will incur more travel time than going to SRP due to heavy traffic,” Osmeña said.  (FREEMAN)