The 3rd Mactan bridge breaks ground in Cebu

I’m proud to tell our readers that when the cellular telephone made its debut in the early ’90s, I was one of the lucky ones who had a huge Panasonic 5-watt phone, which was as huge as the telephone in my house. The late Sir Max Soliven would kid me that we Cebuanos were “Yabang” carrying a mobile phone, which at that time had only an hour talk time and a 10-hour standby time. But the cellphone technology has moved by leaps and bounds.

During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain a few days ago, technology went retro when Nokia (it was for more than a decade the world leader in cellular technology), the Finnish telecom company released the old, Nokia 3310, wherein they added today’s technology at a very affordable price. Honestly, I never used a Nokia 3310, as my favorite Nokia phone was the Nokia 5110 and later three versions of the Nokia Commander, which had lots of technology, but failed miserably to connect to the Wi-Fi at that time.

 Of course, we know too well that this is Nokia’s effort to regain its lost dominance in the world of mobile phones. From my Facebook page, some old friends of mine resurrected their old Nokia 3310 just for the memory. But there is a lesson to be learned here… that when you are on top of the heap, you should listen to the complaints of your clients. My principal complaint then with my Nokia phones was that the font only had three settings, small, medium and large. I complained about this to the Nokia Philippine manager at that time and he merely responded that he couldn’t do anything about the problem.

It was then that I dumped my Nokia phones in favor of Blackberry where the fonts could be adjusted. Today and in the last eight years, I’ve been an iPhone user because Apple technology always moves forward. So will a Nokia 3310 spark my interest? I think not! Mind you even in today’s car technology, I already have a certain minimum standards that I require and that is a video camera for the reverse mode, a convenient link from your car to your cellphone and a navigation system.

Fearing that the implementation of the Excise Tax would increase car prices, I sold my two older vehicles and got the new 2017 Mazda 3, which is loaded with gizmos… and above all, the two-liter SkyActive systems give it a fuel range similar or better than my two-year old Honda City which has a 1500 cc engine. Above all, it has a “Heads-up” display on your dash, which allows you to keep you eyes on the road and still see the speed of your car. So call me a satisfied customer because Mazda technology especially with its G-Vectoring system gives me a sedan car that drives like a sports car. 

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Today, President Rodrigo Duterte will be in Cebu to grace the official ground-breaking ceremonies of the P27-billion, 8.25-kilometer Cebu-Cordova Bridge Project a.k.a. the third bridge to span the Mactan Channel, which is slated to start construction by July this year. This is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) by the national government and the Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) under the leadership of our dear friend, Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP).

Mind you, I consider this project a delayed project because the national government never gave Cebu any priority during the six years of the Aquino regime, but now, at least this project is fast becoming a reality.

Let me point out this early that the third bridge will be a “Toll Bridge”, which means, motorists who use this bridge would have to pay toll just like when Cebu had its first bridge. This Fernan Bridge was supposed to be a toll bridge, but then Cebu Governor Pablo Garcia vehemently opposed it… because Cebu contributed much to the national economy.

This P27-billion project is expected to be completed in Year 2020 if construction will start this year and it will certainly turn the once sleepy town of Cordova into Cebu’s growing Metro Cities and areas for new economic development.

Incidentally we learned that when he was a Congressman for the South District of Cebu, Mayor Osmeña opposed the construction of a third bridge and instead proposed a barge to cross the Mactan Channel to Cordova. Of course, this idea was without any doubt a cheaper alternative, but it certainly isn’t a move that would make Cebuanos proud that Cebu would be the next Singapore.

As the former chairman of the Regional Development Council’s (RDC-7) Infrastructure Utilities Committee (IUC) I was on top of the construction of the Fernan Bridge 18 years ago. After the construction of the Fernan Bridge, I already predicted that traffic between Mandaue and Mactan would worsen, which is why 10 years ago, I was already advocating for the construction of the third bridge. Well this dream is now becoming a reality!

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