I AM a system man. I don’t like one-man or one-person decision-making. Every plan or decision should be subjected to deep scrutiny by a collective or even by the public. That is why when work on the then south reclamation project was completed, my first question was whether a body should be constituted to map out the development plan for the area. I think it was also the idea of JICA, which financed the loan for the project.
That didn’t happen. Now everything related to the south reclamation project, renamed the South Road Properties (SRP), is dependent on one man: Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. Whatever plans are there emanate from his mind. The city council is reduced to either support those plans or, on rare occasions, subject these to deeper scrutiny.
The same thing is happening now to the temporary V-hire terminal set up in Barangay Kamagayan on the lot where the old CitiCenter used to stand. That structure was demolished under the administration of former mayor Michael Rama, who didn’t have much of a plan for the vacant lot that the CitiCenter demolition created. That lot was eventually used as V-hire terminal. Now Osmeña has ordered its closure.
The reason used for the terminal’s closure is rather flimsy. But that is usually what happens when only one man decides on actions or policies. Decisions are not subjected to as much scrutiny as when these are arrived upon by a collective. Just because members of his favored barangay mayor’s office were not given parking spaces there the facility that is being used by a growing number of people had to be closed.
There is a Cebuano term for that the city government did to the riding public as far as the V-hire terminal in Kamagayan is concerned: “pagana.” Just when the riding public already got the hang of a V-hire terminal existing right in the heart of the city, the mayor now wants it closed and is leaving it to the owners and drivers of V-hires to look for another lot to use as terminal.
But one can also look at this development in a positive sense. The threat to close the Kamagayan V-hire terminal should be used as an occasion to find ways to set up a better facility than the one that is about to be closed. I once visited the terminal and when I relieved myself I discovered how messy and stinky the urinating area (it’s not even a toilet). I actually had the urge to run away from the place to escape the odor after I relieved myself.
And yet, the Cebu City Government is earning money from allowing the vans to use the lot to bring in the passengers. Which only means that Cebu City is indeed in need of a terminal for V-hire--not just a temporary one but a facility whose use has a certain level of permanence and should therefore be well-designed and well-kept. But that point is seemingly, for one reason or another, overlooked conveniently by City Hall.
I say V-hire, like buses, minibuses and passenger jeepneys , is here to stay. V-hire, like buses, ply routes in the province and therefore provides an important service. Unfortunately, V-hire terminals have been transferred from one place to another, which only shows how little importance the Cebu City Government has given them.