EDITORIAL - Is the CICC being provided security?

Several issues have cropped up since a large sign expressing good governance went up at the Cebu International Convention Center. One more may be added. The sign went up without any clearance or permission from the two local governments that jointly own and operate the facility. Governor Hilario Davide III, representing the province of Cebu, has washed his hands of any prior knowledge to the incident. Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said no permission was sought and none was given.

There is therefore now a clear case of a breach in security. Just because the CICC is a government property does not mean it is open to just about anyone. In many government buildings, at least some form of identification is required to gain access. And by access is meant regular working hours. Most, if not all, government buildings are off limits after office hours. And for good reason.

Well, there are no more regular working hours at the CICC because the facility has been shut down for safety reasons after sustaining massive damage in the 7.2 magnitude October 2013 earthquake that rocked Cebu and Bohol. Besides, the CICC is not a government building that operates with regular working hours, it being an events venue that opens only when activities are being held there.

In other words, the CICC is closed most of the time. As such, no one can just go in and out of the complex without permission from the relevant authorities. If a group of people, regardless of what they espouse, manage to get into the complex without permission, the only way to describe such an incident is a security breach. We will not go so far as to call it a break-in. But it sure is reminiscent of Watergate.

In the early 1970s, a group with a political agenda broke into the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. in the dead of night and set off such a scandal that it led to the resignation of then US president Richard Nixon. Of course, the CICC version pales greatly in comparison, even if it does assume some of Watergate's creepy elements.

Anyway, the issue that may be added to the several already on the table with regard to the CICC furor pertains to security or the lack of it. And this issue is something that Davide will have to answer for squarely -- is the CICC, as a government facility, being secured? If it is being secured, is the security round-the-clock or only during the daytime? If it is a secured facility, why did a group with some kind of plan manage to get in and put up a huge sign without permission?

If the CICC does not have any form of security, Davide has to explain why. At a reported cost of P840 million, regardless of whether it was overpriced during construction as alleged but as yet unproven, surely any governor with a fair sense of prudence and propriety would have felt it his responsibility to secure the CICC, especially since he has been bragging about protecting the people's money. If the governor has not secured the CICC, then he has virtually opened it to everybody.