Saturday, June 23, 2007 Editorials: City Hall’s bus terminal ploy
THOSE pushing the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) to conduct a study on the possible transfer of the south bus terminal must be laughing now.
It is just a plan, Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem insisted.
But the object of the study and the timing of its implementation belie the motive, which is difficult to dissociate from the intensifying Capitol vs. City Hall conflict.
Naughty move
The Cebu South Bus Terminal is owned by the Provincial Government, and it is not the only establishment whose operation affects the traffic in that road stretch.
From P. del Rosario St. to the south road, you have, aside from the south bus depot, the Sto. Rosario Church, E-mall and the City Hall-favored One Citilink terminal.
It is even a wonder why city planners allowed the addition in that mix of a city councilor-owned school just across E-mall, further complicating the traffic setup.
Subjecting only the south bus terminal to a Citom study is therefore naughty, especially because of Capitol's controversial effort to recover its properties in the city.
Of course, the hatchers of the plan obviously did it tongue-in-cheek.
Forcing Capitol to transfer the bus terminal to, say, Talisay City is like trying to push aside a sitting elephant, considering the legal and other obstacles to be overcome.
City Hall wise guys know it, only that the plan is a ploy, like the earlier threat of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to scrap a school building project in Barangay Lahug.
Discuss the plan in a Citom board meeting then coyly answer media queries.
The result?
Provincial Capitol officials did not outwardly show concern, but the move did create a public furor emanating from visions of a bus terminal actually transferred.
Which could just be what the people who hatched the idea wanted to achieve.
Hurting game
In the tit-for-tat world that Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia are now in, City Hall needed a counter to Capitol’s return-Fuente Osmeña-to-us offensive.
Targeting the south bus terminal provided that and more.
City Hall’s message to the Province: we can hurt you more than you can hit us.
