Osmeña: Cebu City not part of MCDCB

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña stood pat on his decision to exclude the city from the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB).

“Call it Metro Cebu minus one (Cebu City). That’s fine with me. Minus Cebu City,” he said.

The mayor said he will send a letter to MCDCB to formalize it.

“We’ll going to serve Metro Cebu notice especially Joseph. I am not a member of the board. In effect, he’s impersonating government official. He could be legally liable. Who is he to tell the Japanese, to tell the whole world, I’m the chairman of this Metro Cebu sh*t? It does not exist legally,” the mayor said.

Osmeña was referring to MCDCB Executive Chair Gordon Alan Joseph, who also sits as president of Cebu Business Club.

Joseph’s statements against the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project got the ire of Osmeña, who had been pushing for the P16.3-billion project since the 1990s.

Joseph was quoted saying that the government should implement the P155-billion Light Trail Transit project instead of “wasting money” on the BRT project.

“It’s reaching a point that I’m more than annoyed because it’s sabotaging our efforts. It’s already causing the delay on our BRT. But it’s ok because he’s (Joseph) the expert and he’s Metro Cebu,” he said.

MCDCB is a coordinating body for metro-wide planning and development on sustainable and long-term projects for the whole Metro Cebu.

It is composed of 13 local government units of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Danao, Talisay, Naga, Carcar, and Cebu cities, as well as the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Cordova, Minglanilla, and San Fernando.

But Osmeña announced July last year that Cebu City will no longer be part of the MCDCB.

Sought for comment, Joseph said he is saddened by the mayor’s pronouncement.

“I am sad that the city I live and work in prefers to leave Mega Cebu rather than work together with the other member-LGUs to solve the critical issues affecting Cebu like traffic, waste management, and septage. It would be great to work with the city on an agenda of collaboration and expert planning, but it has obvious that the city does not wish to collaborate,” he said.

Mega Cebu is a program of the MCDCB, which envisions to make Cebu a more livable and sustainable place to live in by 2050.

Joseph said he is hoping that BRT proponents will act on and respond to the technical issues that the project is facing.

For the BRT to succeed, Joseph said, issues raised about the project’s utility and the like need to be addressed for the good of all stakeholders.

The mayor has been challenging the critics of the BRT to a debate for him to explain to them the nature of the project. —/KBQ (FREEMAN)