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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Espinoza: Will the CICC become a white elephant?
By Elias L. Espinoza
The gripe of Cebu Vice Gov. Greg Sanchez over the delay in the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) somehow bolsters the suspicion that the structure won’t be used for the Asean Summit in December.
Sanchez, an engineer and a former contractor, mentioned the snag in the release of funds and the escalation of construction cost. The contractor, WT, is reportedly talking about a 100 percent increase in the cost of building the structure.
Some of my golf mates that regularly pass Ouano Ave. at the Mandaue City reclamation area have expressed doubts that the CICC will be completed in November. This is because they still have to see any vertical development in the site.
With the vice governor’s worries, will the project end up as the biggest white elephant in Cebu? Well, that is still too early to tell. In fact, we can only be sure when November comes.
* * * * *
So much concern have been raised lately about cybersex that the police have seemingly turned jumpy over the issue.
I know that adults know what sex means. But for purposes of discussion, let me use the definition in The New Oxford Dictionary of English: “sex--noun [mass noun] (chiefly with reference to people), sexual activity, including specifically sexual intercourse.”
The same dictionary defines cyber as: [adjective] relating to, or characteristic of the culture of computers, information technology and virtual reality.
Whoever coined the word cybersex (I’m sure it’s not the police) must be very imaginative. Cybersex simply means sex in the Internet. But is sex possible in the Internet? Certainly not!
This reminds me of a joke about a Chinese national (with all due respect to my chino friends) who worked in Hong Kong for a year while his wife was in Cebu. Since this was before the advent of computers and the Internet, they communicated through the telephone.
When the Chinese national finally went home, he was surprised to see that his wife was already seven months pregnant. The poor guy blamed the telephone for that.
In the absence of a specific law, law enforcers are treading a dangerous line if they continue their campaign against cybersex. They should remember that communication in the Internet between two persons (consenting adults) is privileged under our laws.
Besides, law enforcers cannot just search the home of suspected cybersex operators without a warrant since the Constitution forbids illegal searches and seizures. Also, owning a computer with an Internet connection is not a crime per se.
The plan of Rep. Tony Cuenco to draft a law for this purpose is a step in the right direction. And until a law is passed, law enforcers should keep their hands off this matter. They should focus instead on heinous crimes committed almost everyday in the metropolis.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 6, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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