Saturday, February 02, 2008 Roperos: On the inevitable By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
THE Cebu City mayor and vice mayor are in agreement, which is not often, over the construction of the Banilad flyover.
When the start of the work on the project became inevitable Mayor Tomas Osmeña decided to let the people themselves look for solutions to the possible traffic mess that will crop up. And I could picture Vice Mayor Mike Rama looking up to the heavens and saying, “Mangurus na lang ta.”
But things may not be that exasperating if it is true that the project will be completed in five to six months at the most or four months at the earliest. People should just consider the ease of the traffic flow in the area once the flyover shall have been finished. Six months of traffic hell is not too much to pay for a lifetime of traffic ease.
The imbroglio over the Ban-Tal flyover is nothing new to native Cebu City residents, though. Similar heated debates have erupted in the past over infrastructure projects in the city.
Those who grew up in the ‘60s would recall the political mudslinging and flaring of tempers over the construction of the north reclamation area, which is the home now of SM City and other businesses. Poor Serging Osmeña, who was the mayor then, became target of verbal abuse.
Then there was the minor controversy erupting from the proposal to transfer the Lahug airport to Mactan Island. There was much fuss over the inconvenience such a move would give to airplane passengers because of Mactan’s location. The project pushed through just the same.
Imagine what would have happened had public opposition prevailed. Where would the IT park be now?
Just less than two decades ago, there was this imbroglio over the closure of the Club Filipino and the sale of its golf course to Ayala Land. Some media people and civic leaders, as well as Club Filipino members, criticized then governor Lito Osmeña for the move, portraying him as a traitor for selling Cebu’s patrimony. Look at Ayala now and the revenue that the city collects.
Lest I be accused of a defeatist and submissive attitude, my point is that there are times in our life as a people living in a community like Metro Cebu that things emerge and initially arouse public resistance, then benefit the common welfare in the end.
Our growth as a metropolis is not really pre-designed: our streets are narrow and our vehicles were few less than two decades ago.
