MAYOR Tomas Osmeña wants new infrastructure projects to head for Cebu City’s south district, saying it is not his concern whether or not the Provincial Government gains revenues from its Ciudad project, which is up north.
“I will no longer take into consideration the concerns of the Province because it’s none of my business. It’s her business, not mine,” he told a press conference in his house yesterday afternoon.
The mayor issued the statement a day after Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she was ready to take “the necessary steps” to protect the Province’s interests and push through with Ciudad, the Capitol’s joint venture with a private developer.
The Capitol is still waiting for a locational clearance from the City Government’s Planning Office, after the City ordered a moratorium on developments in Banilad and Talamban.
Osmeña, though, said the moratorium is not all-encompassing.
“There can be certain kinds of developments that I can find acceptable as far as the need of the city is concerned,” he said.
But the mayor said “the Ciudad project has always been questionable,” adding that it should not even be there because of traffic considerations.
No spite
Because of the “spirit of cooperation,” City Hall tried to let it go—until its relations with Capitol officials soured over the failed land exchange deal, he said.
“But since the spirit of cooperation is off, we’re going to focus purely on the interest of the city. We need to draw the line,” he added.
For her part, Garcia hit back at Osmeña, who was quoted as saying that the governor should “not dictate” on him on the planned Ciudad project because the city is not within her jurisdiction.
“I don’t know about him but I don’t dictate on local government units, much less go beyond my territorial jurisdiction. I just follow what is right and stay the course not out of drunken arrogance or spite, but after a sober reflection on what is right and on basic belief in truth, justice and equity,” said Garcia.
She cited the fact that Cebu City Councilor Gabriel Leyson, who is closely identified with Osmeña, ran for mayor of Talisay City in the last elections.
Cebu City has a long-running spat with Talisay because of the latter’s ownership claim over some 50 hectares of the South Road Properties.
Reasonable
While the statements from the Capitol earlier hinted of legal action, the results of Wednesday afternoon’s meeting indicate that this is not the only option being looked into.
In an interview yesterday, Capitol consultant Rorejon Sepulveda said they are “working under the premise that there are still reasonable men in the City Government.”
But Garcia, in telephone interview, also said: “I do believe there are still reasonable men in the City Government.”
Sepulveda did not elaborate, but he said the first thing the legal team will do is to get a formal report from Fifth Avenue, the developer of Ciudad, on their “factual and legal situation.”
“We need information to be black and white so we need Fifth Avenue to be categorical about the real situation. This way, we will walk under clear premises and would not be acting based only on what we heard or read,” said Sepulveda.
The Capitol is already trying to schedule a meeting with the developer.
Balance
The Cebu City Traffic Operations Management has scheduled a traffic impact assessment in Banilad by the end of June, in part to confirm whether the moratorium on development needs to stay in place.
For now, however, the mayor said he would rather have infrastructure projects in the south district.
“There is an unbalanced growth trend in Cebu City. Development tends toward the north, along that narrow, congested corridor all the way up to (Barangay) Pit-os,” he said.
This has resulted to a growing population there, with those from the middle and upper-income classes moving to Banilad, Talamban, Bacayan and Pit-os where the subdivision developments are rampant.
“These are no relocation sites for the urban poor. The new housing sites are for the middle and upper classes who have cars.
We have to take into consideration what the impact might be because there are very few alternative routes,” the mayor said.
“Bring the infrastructure to an area that can bear the brunt, and that’s the south,” he said. (RHM/JPM)
