Riding around the southwest roads of Cebu

Tonight's special presentation on Straight from the Sky is extra special for me because my guest has come to Cebu only for a very short visit a couple of weeks ago as St. Luke's Medical Center brought him to the Philippines so he could give a lecture on the field of Cardiology. Our guest is Dr. Ruperto D. Mayuga, who originally came from Bicol and moved to Cebu when he was young. After his medical studies in Velez, he took his residency at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center and at the Philippine Heart Center. Finally, he accepted an invitation to be at Chicago's Northwestern University where he has been a fellow and one of their eminent professors in the last 20 years.

What makes Dr. Mayuga extra special is that, I was the Best Man in his wedding exactly 30 years ago today and he was also the Best Man in my wedding. He played godfather to my first born, Dr. Frances Angeligue Avila-Tequillo and I was godfather to his first born Dr. Myttle Mayuga. When he was still here, Dr. Mayuga and I shared the same sport - Archery - and in the US, he became a US Champion in Radio Controlled Boat Racing.

Remember the old saying, "Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are?" Well, to our televiewers, allow me to present to you a dear friend and a very successful Cardiologist in the United States, Dr. Rupert Mayuga. See him tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00PM.

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After three weeks of delays due to inclement weather or conflicts of schedules, my Big Bike group, the EasyRiders finally took a ride "Round South". In my younger days, we used to go "Round South" on dual-purpose trail bikes because the roads in those days were so bad and for dirt riders, it makes for a great Sunday fun ride. But since we've shifted to big street bikes, passing through the Southwestern part of Cebu Province was no longer feasible as street bikes are not adept to bad road conditions.

But ever since Cebu Governor Gwen F. Garcia took over the Provincial Capitol, one of her promises was to fix the national roads (which is on record in Congress was already paved four times, but the roads in the south still has to get its first taste of asphalt) and I've heard that we can already make a tour "Round South" on street bikes. So blessed with a perfect weather, off we went to the Southeast coast, stopping for breakfast in Argao.

As we turned around Santander to Bato, the roads were all good, except for three Bailey Bridges between Bato to Samboan. I guess those three bridges have yet to be scheduled for replacement in the Bridges program of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).

While the Southwest coastal road isn't a hundred percent complete, we passed three bridges that were already completed, except for a hundred yards on both sides of its approaches. There were also three bridges already under construction forcing us to make necessary detours. The longest detour with bad roads was in Alegria. From there, the roads were smooth and paved all the way to Moalboal, where we had lunch at the Club Serena Resort of Ms. Belinda Garcia in Barangay Saavedra. Just sitting in that resort by the beach, one can say that we Cebuanos are indeed so blessed to have such beautiful places within our province in just a couple of hours' ride.

On our way home, we passed through the Town of Barili, which I would say may have cemented roads, but they've been cracked for years and is in dire need of repairs. I'm not sure if this is part of the old "Cuatro Caminos" which was built during the time of Governor Emilio "Lito" Osmeña? Anyway, my speedometer clocked a total of 197 miles or around 317 kilometers from Cebu City to Santander and back via the Southwestern road. I'd say it is 90% completed totally passable and I'm sure in six months time, it would be a hundred percent finished. This is a feather in the cap of Gov. Gwen Garcia for doing in less than three years what her predecessors couldn't do in a hundred years!

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Last Friday, US Consular Agent Mr. John F. Domingo invited a select group of Cebuanos to meet the Honorable Paul W. Jones, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy with his wife Catherine on his first trip to Cebu at the Marriott Hotel. In his entourage were NIV section vice council Long Nguyen, Ms. Judy Reicic of the Commercial Section and the Embassy's Public Relation Section Stacy Mac Haggard. Mr. Paul Jones served as the US Deputy Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Vienna, Austria and was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia; He was also assigned in Russia, Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is an interesting man, who knows his recent and past history.

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