Thursday, June 28, 2007 Wenceslao: Cebu City Zoo By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
THE principle is simple. If you cannot give a thing your attention, then surrender it. Or vice versa. If you do not want to surrender a thing, give attention to it. The Cebu City Zoo and Fuente Osmeña are being administered by the Cebu City Government. But it is obvious that City Hall has not given these facilities their due. Neglect is the word.
Comes now the Provincial Government, which is moving to repossess the lots where the zoo and Fuente are located. One can consider it more of an offshoot to the conflict between Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia than anything else.
But that’s beside the point. Capitol’s claim to the two facilities is the main issue.
I think Capitol is determined to get back the lots, as shown by Garcia’s recent announcement that the Province will go to court within the week. City Hall’s case could be weaker, though, as far as the lot occupied by the city zoo is concerned. But Osmeña’s announcement to develop the zoo means that he is determined to hold on to the lot.
I used to spend time in the zoo when Fr. Eleuterio Tropa’s Lamplighter people still administered it. I was either alone or with others for discussion sessions.
The number and the kind of animals in the zoo were limited even then, yet the place was a refuge for people wanting to take a respite from urban monotony. Father Tropa eventually left.
City Hall was no better manager of the zoo than Tropa. Weren’t people of the mayor’s political enemies sent into “exile” there? Funding for its upkeep was reduced to a trickle that even help from non-government organizations failed to prop its operation up. Worse, urbanization in Kalunasan made bad elements a threat to the zoo’s security.
But Cebu City needs a zoo in much the same way that it needs to improve the look of Fuente Osmeña. The governor’s announcement to use the area as site of a women’s center means that if Capitol repossesses the lot the zoo will follow Tropa and the Lamplighters: gone. Which would be unfortunate for an urban center like Cebu.
But that can be used as an opportunity to start anew. A zoo can be better suited in areas like my good friend Yody Sanchez’s Barangay Busay. Maybe Osmeña and investors like Robert Yupangco can look in that direction if they want to set up zoo-like “world-class” facilities. With this, something good can still come out in this issue.
