Friday, February 01, 2008 Wenceslao: Construction of the sports center By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I WAS still a reporter when Cebu vied for the hosting of the Palarong Pambansa, a National Government-sponsored sporting activity whose budget included an item for the construction of a sports center. I recall those days because of the most recent round of verbal exchange between City Hall and Capitol that drew in the Cebu City Sports Center.
I won’t dwell on the question of which project is over priced, the sports center or the Cebu International Convention Center. It looks like both are, that is if you base the assessment on the original estimated price. Projects handled by the government always overshoot original costing for reasons that can either be honest or sinister.
What made my coverage of that Palaro issue in the ‘90s interesting was that it gave me a first glimpse of the rivalry between Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Rep. Eduardo Gullas, something that would heat up through the years. Gullas and Capitol also planned to bid then for the hosting of the Palaro with a Talisay lot offered as sports center site.
The Talisay lot offered for Palaro use was big; what worked against it was its distance from the province’s main urban center. Osmeña was for the use of Palaro money to transform the old Abellana National School oval into a modern sports center. The drawback was that the area was small, thus limiting the size of targeted facilities.
Despite the rivalry, Osmeña and Gullas relented to public pressure for Cebu to present a unified Palaro bid and dialogues were held to pinpoint the possible site of the sports center. It was in those dialogues that I observed how Gullas worked: he always came to meetings well prepared. In the end, though, Osmeña got what he wanted.
I think the decision to use the Abellana oval lot as site of the sports center was the correct one at that time. The sports center did not become a white elephant as feared. But with the coastal highway in place and with the increase in traffic flow along Osmeña Blvd., I would say that had that decision been made today, Talisay should have been it.
***
I was amused by some of the text messages I received in reaction to my column, “Galling incompetence,” published in Sun.Star yesterday. I used the word “galling” to stress my point, and it can be considered a hyperbole. And my criticism was not directed at one official but at all those who forgot about needed preparation for the flyover work.
As for claims about my losing the “moral high ground,” that does not disturb me. My stand on issues is based on careful evaluation of available information and, at times, gut feel. One thing I learned in my years as a journalist is not to jump to conclusion. I am a harsh critic of my own work, especially if I feel I have not been fair and objective.
And the name calling won’t make me lose sleep. When I wrote against the US invasion of Iraq many years ago, some readers, especially Americans called me moron, ignorant, a high school-level columnist, etc. Of course, I ended up having the last laugh. Even in the US, the invasion of Iraq is being criticized by a growing number of people.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/0915-9228651/ my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
