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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Editorial: Road closure: one limp reason after another
The trouble with having limp, if not silly, reasons for doing a dubious act is that the doer trips himself up with his contrived excuses.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he has closed the South Coastal Road because of thievery in the area.
The petty theft cases occurred and can recur, with or without the road, because the South Reclamation Project (SRP) is accessible by foot, especially to residents near the project. SRP security against thieves hardly improves merely by closing the road to vehicles.
The mayor also said the closure of the road has made people realize the value of SRP, for which, he said, he was being criticized.
SRP's value has never been seriously questioned, which, on hindsight, should have been done. Critics found fault in the way the SRP was packaged, especially on the debt burden. Well-meaning journalists like Juan L. Mercado (who can say "I told you so" but doesn't) had warned city officials about falling into a debt trap and how to cushion the fall.
Besides, the worth of the coastal road doesn't necessarily prove SRP's worth because the road is valuable, with or without SRP. Development planners have long cited the need for that road to decongest south traffic. The National Government shelled out the money for the road, knowing its usefulness to commuters to and from Cebu City.
Now the city mayor has come up with the argument that the City controls the coastal road because it has not yet been turned over by the contractor to DPWH as a national highway. An aide, along the same line, said the tunnel segment of the road still has to be finished.
The issue is less of which agency has control over the road as the rationale for its use. If the closure is due to public safety, then why open the road to selected vehicles? Are vehicles of government invulnerable to an unsafe road?
The real reason, people must know by now, is that the mayor is using the closure of the road as instrument to compel the issuance of titles to SRP land. The real reason is that he wants to spite the leaders and people of Talisay City.
Or maybe, he just wants to flex some muscles and see people cringe and suffer.
(April 20, 2005 issue)
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