Wednesday, September 05, 2007 Barrita: Sorry By Eddie O. Barrita Small Bites
CEBU City Mayor Tommy Osmeña told barangay captains he was sorry some projects were not funded because the city is paying at least P500 million a year for the South Road Properties (SRP) loan.
Sorry, no bulldozer came, he said to a barangay captain who requested for one.
That must sound sweet, coming from one who once shooed away a barangay captain.
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Mayor Osmeña still sees the proverbial silver lining on SRP’s debt woes.
All the city’s “liquidity requirements” in the next one or two years will be “good as solved,” he said, if he can sell a 30-hectare portion of the SRP.
Woe to the next city mayor.
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Mayor Osmeña may have learned a lot from the national government.
He’s paying P1 million a day for the SRP debt.
The national government’s foreign debt clock ticks quicker at P1.2 million a minute.
He’s in good company.
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Sen. Mar “Mr. Palengke” Roxas breezed into town over the weekend, visited a public market and had a breakfast of puto, mango and danggit with Mayor Osmeña.
All he said after the market visit was, “The basic food supply at the Carbon market is quite stable.”
His market stunt made him top the senatorial race three years ago.
Will it wrest for him the presidency in 2010?
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The Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Cebu City has passed a resolution supporting Rep. Raul del Mar’s P150 million Banilad flyover.
They will not sacrifice the welfare of the majority, they said, for the interest of a few businessmen who opposed the project.
Now that the ABC has spoken, let the rest of the alphabet speak and be heard.
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Malacañang has rejected an appeal from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to end the military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf terrorists and other outlaws in Basilan and Sulu.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said halting the military operations would mean surrendering the State to terrorists and crime.
In other words, the government is simply giving war a chance.
