Our options are: cha-cha or the status quo

I got several text messages from the two articles we wrote one after the other. The first one was about the proposed transfer of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to Cordova, which has only caused unnecessary anxiety amongst our Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) without whom Cebu would not be experiencing a healthy economic growth today. People are not giving this idea any hoot until it is too late in the hour!

 But I did get a texted response worth mentioning, but my friend asked that his name be withheld. “Sir Bobit, I have no doubt that when former Mayor Tomas Osmeña proposed the transfer of the Mactan Airport to Cordova, this was a figment of his imagination which he conjured without benefit of any Master Plan. Now you’re in the midst of a controversy of two flyovers where the oppositors say it did not come from any master plan. So may I ask, the cost of transferring the airport entails a huge amount of money, how come those who profess to love Cebu and against the flyover are not making any noise about this issue? Again, please don’t mention my name.”

 Indeed, if a few people are against the flyovers because this was not taken from any master plan, the same thing is true with the proposed transfer of the Mactan airport. As I mentioned yesterday, there are many proposed flyovers (which acts like a stent placed in someone’s artery when it gets clogged) in Mactan and in Mandaue designed to ease the traffic flow. Yet there is no one opposing these flyovers there. The bottom line really is nothing but ugly nauseating Cebu City politics!

 Ugly politics is the reason why the Ciudad Project was blocked, which is more than obvious to us because there are at least 7 construction projects that were allowed to proceed in the Ban-Tal area, but why stop Ciudad? Because former mayor Tomas Osmeña is against Cebu Governor Gwen F. Garcia. Now that Mayor Mike Rama has cut his bridges with Rep. Osmeña, the new battleground is the two flyovers. This is the whole truth!

 It is time that we tell our political leaders that many Cebuanos are unhappy about the fact that when they quarrel, we suffer from delays in our infrastructure development. Incidentally, my good friend Joel Mari Yu of the Cebu Investment Promotion Center (CIPC), who never takes sides in a controversial issue, forwarded to me an email he sent to a friend. Perhaps he could no longer sit idly by while there’s a lot of unwanted noise created by the anti-flyover group. He gave me permission to reprint it, but not to mention the name of his friend whom he sent the email. So I will go straight to the letter and change the name of his friend to “Bai.”

 “Bai… We already had a discussion over the pros and cons of the flyover at the country club. All you guys who are rooting for a more “comprehensive and holistic” solution to Cebu’s traffic problems and are willing to shoot down the flyovers because they are at best “Band-aid” - well you’re right, but you’re also in la-la-land!

 The whole country is a result of patchwork government… there has never been a comprehensive solution to any problem in this country…inspite of hundreds of masterplans that have been commissioned for everything…from drainage, to education, health…you name it! A masterplan exists somewhere, but from Aparri to Jolo… there is no evidence of a problem that has been comprehensively and holistically solved… ever since we became a Republic!

 Believe me, I too would rather have wide roads, beautiful tree-lined avenues, bike lanes, champagne palms in the center islands, etc… but hell! We can’t even enforce the No-Parking or No-Stopping regulations in Escario, V. Rama, Banawa, Ban-Tal, A. Fortuna, etc… and you want new wider roads so that more of the same can happen?? Instead of rallying with Mike Rama and the City Council for wider roads, why don’t we first demand from them 24/7 implementation of our Traffic Laws?

 Where are your priorities? Why is there no indignation from CBC for the tents that are erected on the roads for wakes? And why are the flyovers demonized when they have provided relief for the greater but quieter segments of the Cebu population who are realistic enough to eat bread when cake is not available? I am saddened that your sense of righteous indignation is totally out of sync. Joel.”

 What can I say, but bravo Joel! You sock it to ‘em! Yes, if only we had wide tree-lined roads and yes bicycle lanes, Cebu would be an ideal place to live. But those who oppose the flyover are quarreling over the leaves because they could not see the forest. Cebu has been under this centralized form of government for years and has lived under the shadow of Imperial Manila. If you want genuine change, it must be a change in the system of governance and there are only two options for us. Turn to Communism, which you know no longer works, or ask for a charter changes that would lead us to a shift to a federal form of governance. It’s cha-cha or the status quo!

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