The Liberal Party is self-destructing already

It was indeed shocking news to hear that newly-installed Consul General Song Ronghua of the People’s Republic of China was involved in a shooting incident at the Lighthouse Restaurant along Mango Avenue, an incident that made not only the headlines of our local news dailies but national dailies as well. It is not everyday that this kind of incident happens to our Diplomatic Corps and we can only hope that police investigators will find out the motive why Li Qing Liang and his wife Gou Jing had trouble with the Chinese diplomats here in Cebu to the point of shooting and killing two Chinese diplomats.

I’m happy that Consul General Song Ronghua survived this incident. Just a month ago, our beloved Ambassador Frank Benedicto invited select members of the Cebu media for dinner at the Tsay Cheng Restaurant in order to introduce the new Chinese Consul General. We hope that the Consul General would recover very soon. Meanwhile, I’m glad that Vice-Consul Wang Yangan who sat beside me in that dinner wasn’t involved in this incident. Let’s hope that this investigation would give us a clearer picture why the Chinese couple that shot the Chinese diplomats even had a gun with them. Where did they acquire the weapon, was it licensed? These are just things that need to be answered.

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I received an emailed response to our article the other day about sidewalks here in Cebu City from a concerned citizen. I’m reprinting this in full and need not comment any further as it is quite self-explanatory.

“Good day Mr. Avila, I commend your article in the Freeman dated Oct. 21, 2015 on the matter of sidewalk program. I am glad to hear that Tesda has finally considered to move back their fences for consideration for a public sidewalk. Private or gov’t entities should, as moral and civil obligation should ensure the public’s safety with regards to sidewalks.

For example, USC-TC my Alma matter and to where my son now studies, has set back their perimeter fences to accommodate sidewalk for their students and public’s safety. Everybody should also follow suit.?Another concern that I hope will bring to your attention is the sidewalk located inside Ayala Business Park, the Mactan Avenue in particular. I hope the concerned agencies pay attention to this small but busy street.

 To enumerate a few: 1.) Cars are parked in clearly marked towing zones, business establishments abound in the area ( bakery, eatery, junk shop, sand and gravel, sound system rental) with no assigned parking areas which at peak hours obstruct the flow of traffic, business operations are extended on the sidewalks which pedestrians have to walk on the road compromising their safety. No clear parking area no business permits.

2.) A junk shop operates recklessly putting junk on the sidewalk thus blocking anybody passing through and at times do cutting works on old cars, refrigerators, aircons, and the like, putting the neighboring areas at risk, of FIRE. Once fire starts in the area the community inside Hipodromo will be at risk because the village has only one way in and one way out. Imagine the destruction of lives and property.

 3.) At night children play on the streets running around posing danger to motorists and their parents are just sitting nearby and tolerating them. 4.) Drugs are now rampant in the area, stolen goods are pawned at the junkshops to fund their vices.?I would like to ask your help Mr. Avila to please also include this in your article so that the concerned government agencies ( DPWH, DSWD, CITY HALL, FIRE DEPT., PNP, Barangay Hall, Etc...) would pay heed to the problems we, the public, the motorists, the pedestrians face everyday and frankly we are fed up with this. Give back the sidewalks back to the public, sidewalks are not open to the commerce of man. Sincerely, Charles B. Lee Concerned citizen”

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Former Mayor Tomas Osmeña was our guest speaker of the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother Club) yesterday and as expected, he enumerated the problems plaguing Cebu City today under the leadership of Mayor Michael Rama. You can say that this was Tommy’s way of telling people that he wanted to get back into the mayor’s seat in the 2016 presidential elections.

But what struck me was when he was asked about the Bus Rapid Transit where he intimated to the Rotarians present that he no longer believed in that project because under the present system of governance it was going to be very difficult to implement. Indeed I fully agree that the BRT project is done by the DOTC and yet the roads where it would be built are under the DPWH. This alone will cause a huge bureaucratic mess!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.