In the middle part of last month, we all received, with great anticipation on my part, the news that the groundbreaking ceremony of the Cebu City-Cordova bridge was finally scheduled. No less than President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, was coming to signal the start of a project of tremendous significance. The noise attendant to the preparation for the arrival of the president was understandable that the jostling for prominence between Presidential Assistant Michael Dino and His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña, appeared more amusing than important.
When the day finally came, disappointment instead of excitement consumed me, from my distant observation point. No, it was not the reported late arrival of the president at the venue where formalities were going to be done that seemed, in my personal view, to diminish the importance of the occasion. On one hand, presidents, owing to their hectic itinerary, are entitled to be late and citizens, on the other hand are, of course, duty-bound to wait for them. That was the acceptable nature of things.
It was the account of newsmen covering the event that floored me really, as if Sen. Manny Pacquiao hit me with his left straight. Mediamen reported that President Duterte approved the project in consideration of the so-called Cebu votes. I took the news to mean that because Cebuanos, excluding me, voted for him in the last elections, the president felt obligated to implement a multi-billion peso project. I do not know whether the president himself said it in his speech because we are accustomed to his veering away from his prepared speeches or he mentioned it in response to any question raised along the way.
We might have a reason to rejoice, if that should be the case. A person who demonstrates his gratitude is a welcome sight, more so if he is a president. But, believe me, however his gratefulness surfaced and whatever form it took, the president insulted the minds of right-thinking citizens of this country for him to say that this multi-billion project was his way of thanking the Cebuanos for the support given him in the last elections.
In the first place, this project was conceived when the president was still the mayor of a Mindanao city. He had nothing to do with it. While his signature, as the president of the republic is needed to push it through, the germ of thought to put another link between Mactan Island and mainland Cebu was developed by the minds behind a huge financial source and a mayor who, the president later on described as a governor. So, it is not correct to say that this bridge, being not the president's authorship, is in payment for the Cebuano votes. Specially, that this is going to be undertaken solely on a public-private-partnership scheme and therefore no centavo came from the national treasury.
Even if government funds were to be used to build this bridge and the release of such money is upon the directive of the chief executive, the president should not say that he is doing this to pay back the Cebuano votes. Undertakings of this magnitude are conceptualized solely on the basis of public welfare. They are not launched on the thought that they be deemed as a form of thank you. If that were so, it would not differ from the reprehensible concept of bribery. But, if that were the thought process of the president, those areas which did not vote for him can only expect prejudice from Malacañang.