We are now in the Sinulog Week, but with a difference because this is also the week when the Supreme Pontiff of the billion-plus-strong Catholic Church, Pope Francis, visits the Philippines. Already some people are saying that we will experience fewer pilgrims for the Sinulog Festival as many of the Sto. Niño devotees, especially those coming from Leyte and Samar or even parts of Northern Mindanao would be going to Tacloban City to see the Pope. We can only wish them well. But from the way things are going, it seems that we are already experiencing heavy traffic despite all that talk.
As for me, I am one of the lucky few who will be going to Manila to meet Pope Francis. We learned of this last November when Fr. Eligio Suico called for a meeting with the Family and Life Apostolate, where we only had a little more than 20 people who attended that first meeting. It was only then that we were told that Pope Francis wanted to meet the spectrum of the Filipino people from all over the country. In that meeting, we were told by the organizers of the Papal visit that a hundred men and women from each Archdiocese throughout the Philippines would be given special passes for the special meeting with Pope Francis at the SMX Mall of Asia.
Of course there was a catch. Most of those who would attend the meeting with the Pope should have, amongst them, poor farmers, fishermen, workers, persons with disabilities and whole families. So in the end, these people should be sponsored by those who can afford to pay for their airfare and hotel. As my sister Adela A. Kono belongs to the PWD sector, I volunteered in her behalf. But when I told my sister about this, she told me that she could not attend as she was having Japanese guests who would be teaching the Avila Foundation on how to fix wheelchairs. So now I was tasked to chaperone the five PWDs that we are bringing to Manila.
Call it a divine providence that somehow, we were able to get our flight schedules done and our hotels booked. Then we got those reports that many flights have been cancelled because of the Pope's visit. But so far, our flights with Philippine Airlines have not been cancelled. The only thing I had to cancel was my flight for the Annual Coral Tee Golf Tournament at the Cebu Country Club. But apparently everything is going as planned.
Meanwhile as for our hopes that by some unforeseen event might still force the Papal plane to land at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, all this is up to God. I gathered that there is a low pressure area that could whip up into another typhoon - the first in 2015 - this coming Thursday. So the fate of the Papal visit is really in the hands of God. Therefore all we need to do is pray that God's will be done!
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With the Sinulog Festival in full swing, kudos to Raquel Arce of the Prevention Restoration Order Beautification Enhancement for clearing up the sidewalk, especially that huge stage in front of the Crown Regency Hotel. While we are happy that they are doing this, as of today however, nothing has been done to stop the operation of the Coffee Bean and Scent along Mango Ave. which was once a house and totally rebuilt into a steel and glass edifice without any parking slot.
Time and time again we have asked Mayor Michael Rama why this establishment was given a permit to operate and worse a business permit. I already told Mayor Rama in so many meetings past to stop this establishment from operating, lest I charge his administration of graft. I have already asked Rene Mercado (whose wife Lucille is our City Administrator) why this establishment could get away with breaking the laws government building establishments because it puts a black eye on Mayor Rama's administration. But apparently my pleas are falling on deaf ears!
Another issue that is going to hound the City of Cebu was the issue when the Department of Public Works and Highways declared that the closure of a national road like Colon St. for the Night Market was deemed illegal. Somehow, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. also came up wrongly supporting the City of Cebu. If you ask me, you should learn from a famous legal phrase which goes, "Dura Lex Sed Lex" which in English stands for "the law may be harsh, but it is the law."
So no matter how the City of Cebu justifies that it too has a legal right to close Colon St. it is now a matter of which law should prevail, the national law or the local laws. Let me point out that this is one issue that would always a thorn on our side as it is Cebu vs. Imperial Manila. I have always believed that it is high time for our nation to get away from our highly-centralized form of governance and shift into a federal form of government so that issues like would no longer cause confusion amongst our citizenry.