Thursday, June 14, 2007 Espinoza: CICC’s ‘minor defects’ By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
I HAD my first glimpse of the insides of the controversial Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) Friday evening when my wife, Malou, invited me to the Independence Day dinner-show of Natrapharm-Patriot Group at the facility’s Plenary Hall.
Undoubtedly, the CICC is impressive from the outside. But the interior finish, particularly in the Plenary Hall, is so ordinary doctors in our dining table couldn’t believe the building costs about half-a-billion pesos.
Worse, we noticed exposed portions of the ceiling panels. While those panels may not fall off, the sight somehow betrayed the actual cost of the building. I took photos of the panels, but the CICC administrator should not worry because I only shared these to my editor-in-chief last Saturday.
Anyway, for me to personally see the true state of the CICC interior was a privilege because the facility is off limits to the public. Thank you, Natrapharm-Patriot for the invitation.
The CICC administrator must have overlooked those ceiling panels when he/she allowed Natrapharm-Partriot Group to rent the Plenary Hall. Good that Cris Saavedra, who filed graft charges against Gov. Gwen Garcia for the alleged bloated cost of the building, and broadcaster Leo Lastimosa, were not among those invited.
That the CICC was hastily constructed to catch up with our hosting of the December 2006 Asean Summit (which was moved to January this year for questionable reasons) can be a justification for the building’s “minor defects.”
But the CICC administrator should have been more circumspect, knowing the pending graft cases against the governor on the construction of the CICC. They should not have rented out the facility until its condition had been certified perfect.
Renting out the CICC this early, however, is inevitable because funds are needed for its maintenance, including the huge lighting consumption.
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Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña is an aggressive leader and has too much self-confidence. He is one public servant who is always overconfident in what he says or does in public.
The resolution of Osmeña’s sycophant barangay captains giving him their “vote of confidence” was therefore a superfluity. The mayor does not need that. What he needs is money to pay the city’s loan for the South Road Properties.
We can therefore conclude that the barangay captains’ resolution passed during their conference at Tambuli beach resort last weekend was only meant to get the attention of the mayor and get funds for projects in their barangays. Money is such an important commodity these days that values and principles are thrwn out of the window.
The barangay captains just wanted to gratify their patron, never mind if their political adversaries would call them boot lickers or simply tuta. The barangay elections will be held in October and these officials need the endorsement and financial support of the mayor.
Meanwhile, Mayor Tomas may not be callous after all. He has eaten back his words and the construction of the Lahug Elementary School building that he ordered stopped will be resumed soon.
Forget his justification that he merely wanted to send a message to the Lahug residents that he has projects in the barangay contrary to the claim of Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos. The truth is he was bothered by his conscience. The description that he is a man without scruples is perhaps inappropriate.
