Friday, August 24, 2007 Lapu wants Gwen’s authority
NEWLY highly urbanized Lapu-Lapu City is now asking not only for a seat in the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) board, but a turnover of the Cebu governor’s authority to recommend four representatives from the private sector to the board as well.
“This is an uphill battle, pero nganong dili man? Suwayan lang gud (But why not? We’ll just try),” said Mayor Arturo Radaza.
He told Sun.Star Cebu that he wants to reserve his other statements on whatever is the possible reaction of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on their assertion of their right.
Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) shared Radaza’s view, saying that while Congress is likely to favor Lapu-Lapu’s inclusion into the MCIAA board, he expects Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) and Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district) to oppose relinquishing the governor’s authority.
“I can foresee a problem in their second request because there are those who want to maintain a status quo, particularly the father and brother of the governor,” del Mar said, referring to Reps. Pablo and Pablo John, respectively.
Assertion of right
Last month, del Mar filed a bill amending the original bill that he and former senator John Osmeña had authored creating the MCIAA Charter in 1990, by allowing Lapu-Lapu City’s representation into the board.
He said he will redraft his bill to include Lapu-Lapu’s new assertion for a recommendatory power.
The Lapu-Lapu City Council approved en masse a resolution last Wednesday requesting President Arroyo to certify a priority bill that will mandate the inclusion of Mayor Radaza in the MCIAA board. The mayor’s powers will include but will not be limited to recommending the appointment of more members in the board from the private sector.
Councilor Damian Gomez said he filed the resolution because the intention of del Mar’s new bill is not enough to satisfy the interest of the City.
“Wala namay control ang Province namo nganong adto paman nila ang (The Province has no more control over us, why do they still have the) authority? Angayang i-surrender na sa (It is just proper for the) governor to surrender it to us),” he said, basing his argument on the City’s new status as highly urbanized.
After getting the background on the MCIAA Charter creation through Republic Act 6958, the City Council passed Gomez’s resolution en masse.
Component city
Gomez blamed party politics between former governor Lito Osmeña and the late mayor Maximo Patalinjug during which the board was created and the city was excluded from the MCIAA. Gomez was a councilor then.
Gomez said that being a component city of the province, it was argued that the governor should decide on who should sit in the MCIAA board from the private sector because Cebu Province hosts the airport.
“Now that we are a highly urbanized (city) we can now rightfully say that we are hosting the airport, no longer the Cebu Province, so therefore, the authority to recommend four people from the private sector should be given to us,” he said in a session.
“But even before with our new status it would have been fair had the city been given a seat in the board because the airport is inside our turf,” he added.
Committee chairmanship in Congress has not been finalized as of yesterday so del Mar’s bill cannot be tackled.
Committee hearing
Del Mar said that as soon as a first committee hearing of his bill is done, he will request that the subsequent hearing be held in Cebu so the affected people, including officials of the airport, can participate.
“I will bring the members of the committee there so we can have a thorough discussion on the two requests of Lapu-Lapu City,” he said.
For more than a decade, Lapu-Lapu and the MCIAA board disagreed on the City’s taxing power over the airport. As of this year the City’s collectibles reached over P800 million.
Mayor Radaza said tourism and the airport’s unpaid tax to the City are among his priorities when he sits in the board.
“Let us not give a political color in our assertion. It is purely a right of the City we are talking here now that we have parted ways with the Provincial Government,” he said.
Radaza and Governor Garcia were in opposite parties during the May elections. Garcia supported the mayoral bid of former vice mayor Norma Patalinjug. (AIV)
