|
Monday, October 10, 2005
Megadome still on guv’s list
ALTHOUGH admitting that it should not be the top priority, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia sees the need for a “world-class, multi-event center that is huge enough to accommodate a crowd of 16,000 to 25,000.”
The last time the Province talked about such a facility was in early 2004, during the last term of former governor Pablo Garcia, Gwendolyn’s father.
The Capitol had started the paperwork for what it then called the “megadome,” opposed by Pablo’s rivals.
There is an existing P250-million budget for the facility, a continuing appropriation carried from the previous term.
However, the past Provincial Board managed to block further transactions regarding the facility.
Governor Garcia, in an interview, said her priorities right now are what she mentioned in her address when she assumed office in June last year—good roads, water systems and electrification, among others.
She also plans to upgrade two district hospitals into provincial ones.
But with Cebu becoming “more and more practically the favored place” for conventions, national assemblies and even international forums, she said the need for the facility “has become even more pronounced.”
“Now that I am placed in this position, it behooves upon me to realize what the needs are and what people are clamoring for,” she said.
“Determination, fortitude, creativity and imagination are being challenged to respond to the needs of the times,” she added.
In the first five months of this year, Garcia pointed out, Cebu accounted for 80 percent to 90 percent of arrivals of foreign and domestic visitors in Central Visayas.
National assemblies such as that of the League of Provinces of the Philippines were also done here.
Infrastructure should then be put in place so Cebu could host bigger events and at the same time have a trade center and exhibit space, Garcia said.
Right now, she said, concerts or exhibits like that of the furniture industry and equipment shows are being done in a hotel.
In the previous term, political adversaries of the Garcia family did not agree with the idea of building such a facility.
Capitol’s money is better spent on basic services, they had said.
Governor Garcia said that a huge bulk of the Capitol’s budget is for basic services, such as roads, water systems, power, health services, and others.
“From day one, I have concentrated on these,” she said.
In a recent press conference, she also announced that she will propose a supplemental budget that will include P50 million as assistance to local government units, and P50 million as aid to barangays.
This, she said, is her response to complaints from Rep. Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district) and other officials that the towns are not getting enough of the Capitol’s resources. (JPM)
(October 10, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
