THE possibility of mending the now very personal conflict between Gov. Gwen Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is kaput. At the end of the day, their conflict would be our burden.

The conflict heated up after Governor Gwen filed a complaint before the Ombudsman against Cebu City officials on the sale of South Road Properties (SRP) lots to developer Filinvest Land, Inc.

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Not to be outgunned, City Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña asked the city attorney to study the possibility of closing down the Capitol-owned Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) for operating without a business permit.

Mayor Tomas even considered filing extortion charges against Byron Garcia, the governor’s brother and Capitol consultant on security, for collecting P5 from every passenger who gets inside the facility.

City Hall’s legal minds opined that without an enabling ordinance the collection of the P5 terminal fee is illegal and can be used as basis in filing criminal charges against Capitol officials.

City Hall officials also believe that Capitol is subject to taxation because it is operating the bus terminal in its proprietary capacity. Capitol has not been paying real estate taxes and business permits.

I have not been to the bus terminal but reports say that it has been refurbished and already has a waiting lounge, hence the collection of P5 from every passenger. Commuters will now have to shell out an extra P5 each for their fare.

I think CSBT is the first bus terminal in the country that is collecting an entrance fee. In Metro Manila, facilities like this don’t have an entrance fee. The bus terminals are run by bus operators.

We cannot compare a bus terminal with an airport or seaport terminal. Only those who can afford will ride an airplane.

The Supercat terminal is a private enterprise, hence it is paying taxes to the City Government.

The waiting time at an airport or a seaport is longer than at a bus terminal so that a furnished waiting area is a necessity.

Buses, on the other hand, leave every 15 minutes. The bus waiting lounge will only serve stranded passengers.

I gathered from the previous Capitol officials that CSBT was opened on this province-owned lot in order to provide convenience and as a public service to its constituents in the towns. It was never intended to be a business enterprise.

Current Capitol tenants are just business minded. They do business every time an opportunity presents itself. Take a look at the vacant lots at the Capitol compound. These are now a pay-parking area and the monthly income is more than enough to buy two expensive SUVs.

At P5 entrance fee per passenger, Capitol can collect almost a million pesos in a month’s operation. I don’t know where the money went since Capitol has still to come up with a power-point presentation on how the incomes from these enterprises were spent.

Byron said the CSBT is for the welfare of the passengers.

Then he should suggest as well to his sister, the governor, that Capitol put up a skywalk across Natalio Bacalso Ave. to provide safety to the passengers going to the terminal.

Is politics the reason behind the endless squabble between Capitol and Cebu City officials? Maybe. Or maybe not. Some friends I talked with entertain the notion that the family of the governor has the desire to take political control of the city.

Mayor Tomas is the lone Osmeña standing in politics in Cebu.

His cousins, former senator Sonny and former governor Lito are now has-beens while the Garcias have risen in Cebu politics.