Mayor Rama's Christmas wish

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Michael Rama said to see the start of the construction of Unit II of Carbon Market Complex is his Christmas wish this year, and so he is looking at completing the nine-day dawn masses.

The mayor attends mass at the Misa de Gallo sa Carbon every dawn.    The dawn mass at the Carbon Market every December 16 to December 24 is part of the Pasko sa Carbon that is being celebrated for six years now.

This is to allow market vendors and traders to participate in the dawn masses because the nature of their work forces them to skip masses.

In five years, the mayor has not skipped a single dawn mass at Carbon. This year, he said, his wish is reserved to the vendors displaced by the fire that gutted Carbon Market Unit II in 1998.

The construction of Unit 2 will cost more than P300 million and once it starts operating, vendors displaced by the fire and who now sell by the roadside, will have priority.

Under the circumstances, the city government allows vending on streets and sidewalks.

The construction of the carbon market unit 2 was supposed to start 13 years ago but problems with the first contractor stalled it.

During Rama’s time, the plan was revived.

The city government has appropriated an initial standby fund of P70 million.

The annual budget for 2012, approved by the council recently, includes P100 million in additional funds to start the project.

Once all sidewalk vendors are relocated to the new building, the traffic and orderliness in Carbon are expected to improve. – (FREEMAN)