Mega Cebu! A wake up call for Cebuanos!

Yesterday morning we huffed over to the Eduardo Aboitiz Development & Studies Center in The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of MEGA CEBU, represented by the Metro Cebu Development & Coordinating Board, which was created in April 1, 2011. MCDCB is a consortium of 13 cities and municipalities in the province of Cebu.

Yesterday's activity was attended by Sir Roberto "Bobby" Aboitiz and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and I'm glad that Mayor Mike stayed until the end of the presentation so he could see in a nutshell where our beloved Cebu is positioned vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Perhaps the best presentation came from Engr. Fortunato Sanchez, Jr. whose power-point presentation was truly a revelation as to where Cebu is today. He even quoted from the World Economic Forum's Competitiveness Ranking of Countries that said, "Corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy and inadequate supply of infrastructure have remained the top three problematic factors to growth in countries."

If Metro Cebu has stagnated in the last three years, we give thanks to the leadership of Pres. Benigno Aquino, III who failed to give Cebu our infrastructure needs since he stepped into the Office of the President in July 2010. He also quoted the World Investment Report that revealed "The Philippines ranked 116th out of 141 countries in terms of their ability to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) in 2010 was down by 8 notches from its spot in 2009." PNoy won in Cebu in the 2010 elections thanks to then Mayor Tomas Osmeña's support for him. Yet that victory did not translate to Cebu's getting any infrastructure development from the Aquino government.

In another quote during the power-point presentation, Central Bank Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo said, "The poor infrastructure in the Philippines is to be blamed… it is very difficult to compete with other countries in the region particularly China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and even Vietnam because they are so much ahead of us in terms of infrastructure."

Bad infrastructure translates to bad traffic and a Japan International Cooperation Agency study has now shown that our congested streets and traffic jams are costing our country P2.4 billion per year in lost productivity and potential income. This figure is still climbing. In Metro Cebu our bad traffic is estimated to cost us P160 million per day alone. So if our economy is linked to our infrastructure development, when will we Cebuanos tell Malacañang that it is time Pres. Aquino gives us our due?

Our Cebu congressmen and women should take that MEGA Cebu Forum as a warning that if they still kowtow to the powers-that-be in Malacañang and get zero infrastructures for Cebu, there will be retribution during the elections.

Engr. Jun Sanchez pointed out that Cebu started to lose out on our urban planning when we shut down the Metro Cebu Development Projects. His presentation always ended with a big red banner that declared "Failure of  Engineering." In my book his power-point presentation was a shocker and a revelation that if we Cebuanos do not do anything right now, nothing will happen for Cebu in the next 5 to 10 years. His "Failure of Engineering" only came about because he is an engineer. But the sad truth is, Cebu's being under the clutches of Imperial Manila has failed because like it or not the Philippines is a "failed state" thanks to patronage politics!

If Cebu cannot move forward, it is due to the fact that the Philippine centralized system of governance has failed us. During the Ramos presidency, we moved forward to a decentralization of the government. But the PNoy administration has brought us back towards the centralized system of governance and that new gun law that was recently stopped by the Supreme Court with a Temporary Restraining Order is our best proof of this.

The failure of engineering in Cebu is not our failure alone. It is a systems failure endemic to our centralized system of governance. If you folks still believe that this same centralized system of governance would push this nation forward, you will be gravely disappointed. I dare say that it is high time we get off our comfort zones and demand from the national government what Cebu really deserves.

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