Friday, August 17, 2007 Wenceslao: Proposed SRP signage By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
THE junction of Junquera and P. del rosario Sts. has long been without traffic light. Its wirings were destroyed when a drainage canal was dus up across the Junquera side of the junction. Thus traffic cops have to be deployed there, otherwise chaos. I don’t know why that traffic light has not been repaired.
The reason for Cebu City Hall’s inaction must not have been money. After all, Mayor Tomas Osmeña has just announced the allocation of funds for the construction of a welcome signage with a P20 million tower at the South Road Properties (SRP). That’s a lot of money for a signage if one considers that the City Government is cash-strapped.
Even Osmeña finds the cost of the project expensive, the reason why he has been trying to rationalize the spending. It looks extravagant at first glance, he told reporters, but it is important in marketing the SRP. In the mayor’s mind, it would be the SRP’s version of the popular Hollywood signage.
But I doubt if the rationalization will stick. For one, the SRP is already the most marketed property with City Hall spending millions of pesos for the purpose annually through the Cebu Investments Promotions Center. Secondly, the problem in marketing the SRP is not that there is no signage there---it is more complicated than that.
By the way, the mayor did use some analogies to stress his point. Here’s one: “It is like giving a gift. You spend a little money to put a ribbon, and a wrapper.” Here’s another: The signage and the tower is similar to parents exhausting their funds to send their children to school. Oh well...
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If this were a boxing bout, the proposal of some Cebu City councilors to amend the 1996 Revised Zoning Ordinance can be considered an uppercut targeted at the chin of the Provincial Government. Declaring province-owned lots as socialized housing zones would prevent, or so the councilors think, Capitol from developing its lands in the city.
The move follows City Hall’s failed attempt to force Capitol to transfer the Cebu South Bus Terminal outside the city. Since Councilor Gerardo Carillo, apparently the brains behind the move, bristles at any insinuation that the proposal is not well studied, then he probably is convinced that this uppercut will finally knock down Capitol.
By the way, the three other councilors pushing for the plan are Hilario Davide III, Richard Osmeña and Augustus Pe Jr. I thought that Councilor Edgardo Labella was part of the “Group of Four” but it’s good that he has not openly voiced his opinion on the matter yet. Ditto with Vice Mayor Michael Rama. The plan should be scrutinized well.
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I agree that under a different clime, the award given by Malacañang to Cebu leaders for Cebu’s successful hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in January would have been well-appreciated.
Unfortunately for the awardees, the giving of the award was preceded by accusations of anomalies in the implementation of summit-related projects.
