Infra builders need master plan as guide: Palma

CEBU Archbishop Jose Palma welcomed the cancellation of a flyover project in front of the Asilo de la Milagrosa along Gorordo Ave. in Cebu City.

He also reiterated the need for a comprehensive land use and transportation system in Metro Cebu, in order to keep plans from damaging areas of historical value.

“If a flyover is put in front of the Asilo, it would destroy the cultural heritage of the church,” he said.
Palma said he is not against the construction of flyovers but an overall plan should be in place that would guide infrastructure builders.

“In the future, maybe we can sit down with the city planner,” he added.

1M visitors

When Cebu City hosts the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in 2016, for example, the archbishop expects about a million local and foreign guests.

“There would be at least a million people who would have to be transported. How will we move the visitors around?” he asked.

Palma’s reaction was sought to the report that Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson has found the construction of the Gorordo Ave. flyover “not feasible.”

At the Sustainable Cities 2 dialogue conducted last Friday afternoon, former Undersecretary of Transportation and Communication Primitivo Cal said the Metro Cebu Land Use and Transportation Study done in the 1980s was based on data collection.

“The purpose of data collection was to find out what existed in the way of travel, data on travel patterns,” said Cal. “We are moving people, not vehicles.”

The dialogue was organized by the Movement for a Livable Cebu, a civil society group that opposed the construction of the Gorordo flyover and pushed for a traffic impact study. The group says there are other options in addressing traffic problems aside from building flyovers.