Thursday, January 11, 2007 Speak out: Beautiful edifice By Martina Go Ching Hai
My husband and I appointed ourselves P1-a-year supervisors in the construction of this beautiful edifice called the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
After my husband recovered from stroke, I made it a point to take him out 10–11 a.m. and 4–5 p.m. daily. We always dropped by CICC.
The foundation was laid on April–July 2006, according to the papers. Since Aug. 3, 2006, we went around daily and watched the progress of the work---three big beams becoming five then seven, nine, 12 until the two crane hoists were already surrounded by horizontal and vertical frames and the flooring and walling were in progress.
People with negative minds said the CICC would not be finished on time. My husband was willing to bet P1 million, as he was 100 percent sure he will get his money back. He believed strongly the CICC will be finished in time for the Asean Summit.
The CICC was completed on Dec. 1, 2006 including the landscape within the compound, the surrounding center islands, the lights and 30 flagpoles with 17 beautiful flags from participating countries.
This feat should be part of the Guinness Book of World Records.
We regret that we didn’t take pictures of the daily progress of the construction of the CICC until completion. It would have only cost us 4–5 rolls of 36-shot films. History in the making and no daily pictures were taken!
Yesterday, Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City started welcoming the Asean summit delegates. The next days, traffic will be at a standstill from time to time while we give way to and give our visitors a rousing welcome.
