Thursday, April 19, 2007 Wenceslao: Targeting the CICC By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
SO we’re back to discussing the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC)? Self-styled anti-graft crusader-cum-businessman Crisologo Saavedra made sure the Office of the Ombudsman won’t forget the CICC by sending a letter to the ant-graft office asking it to look into the construction expenses of the Capitol-owned structure.
In our place in Sitio Kawayan, Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City, Saavedra’s act would be called “nagpahero-hero.” I can imagine him waiting for the praises of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s critics, who have long been insinuating that some officials made money out of the construction of the CICC. He could be biting more than he can chew.
In this issue, he seems to have also met his match in Architect Manuel Guanzon, who designed the structure and was among those who supervised its construction. This early, Guanzon’s insults have hit the bulls-eye, his aim aided by the faulty figure that Saavedra used in claiming that the CICC is Capitol’s version of the deco lamps project.
What should make this new round of CICC talk going is the fact that Capitol still has to fully account for the money spent for the project. This means that until the accounting report is completed and made public the governor’s critics, including of course her political opponents, will continue to have fun putting her on the defensive.
This reminds me of that controversy on whether the construction of the CICC will be completed in time for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, which was originally set for December last year in Cebu. Critics, too, had fun putting Capitol on the defensive by insisting that no summit-related activity could ever be held at the CICC.
The governor and other Capitol officials, together with Guanzon, thus engaged critics in a verbal exchange that I thought was unproductive because the debate could only be settled once the summit opened and the CICC either became one of its venues or not. In the end, the critics ate their words because the CICC did become a summit venue.
I therefore think it would be unproductive at this stage for Capitol to engage its critics in a verbal exchange on whether the CICC is overpriced or not. The best argument for the governor would be the accounting report on the money spent for the construction of the CICC. Until that is released, nothing will be settled and critics will not be silent.
