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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Editorials: Selective coastal road entry
One interesting development in the controversy over Cebu City Government’s closure of the South Coastal Road is the announcement of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to give passes to selected government and private vehicles.
Some people interpreted this as a softening of the mayor’s stance, although he seemed to be merely thinking aloud in the presence of reporters as those guarding the barricades in the city’s portion of the coastal road are still clueless about it.
Selective entry needs as much deliberation as the decision to close the road (something that apparently was not done by the mayor, thus the resulting confusion when it was implemented).
Letting in ambulances, fire trucks and other vehicles used by the government for immediate public service is easy to accept, but issuing passes to selected private motorists can invite the same barrage of criticisms as the order to close the road.
Will the passes, for example, end up like the food tickets City Hall issued primarily to Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan supporters during its highly publicized Sugbayanihan Festival?
But jostling for South Coastal Road passes is not the only
objectionable point in the selective entry scheme if one considers the bigger issue of ownership and supervision of a multi-billion peso facility funded by the National Government.
Allowing Osmeña to implement the plan would mean that the National Government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways, has given up its prerogative over the coastal road.
Or worse, it would give the impression that the National Government has already been bullied into submission by the Cebu City Government.
Targeting the LTFRB 7 chief
That yesterday’s transport strike was felt more in Mandaue City than anywhere else only shows that the organizers of the protest action were right in including in their demands the resignation of Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7 Director Rogelio “Jingjing” Osmeña.
The Cebu City Government has earlier barred Mandaue City-bound PUJ drivers from going to the downtown area, a move that the LTFRB 7 wholeheartedly supported mainly because of Osmeña’s holding an important position at the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom).
Which just shows the negative effect of the move of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to extend his influence to LTFRB 7 by lobbying for his cousin to head that agency.
(April 19, 2005 issue)
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