Saturday, July 12, 2008 Barrita: Evita By Eddie O. Barrita Small Bites
CEBU Gov. Gwen Garcia, in her State of the Province Address, assured Cebuanos she's "here to stay."
She said she won't be "leaving Cebu for anything—-not for money, nor for fame, or for greatness. Not even for higher office."
Sounds like Evita.
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Gov. Gwen said Cebu is now the richest province in the country and remains debt-free with a surplus of P1.3 billion and P17 billion in assets.
She flaunted her province's assets to taunt another debt-ridden local government unit.
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She didn't name Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña when she spoke of a local chief executive who seems to draw sustenance from his hostility to and obvious envy of the province.
Well, it's more of a tit for tat--Capitol closing some roads in the city that crossed province lots when the land swap deal crashed and City Hall sitting on permit applications for Capitol's Ciudad project.
Mayor Tommy could have snorted, "You can have the province, but you'll never have the Ciudad."
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Gov. Gwen said the Capitol-funded Cebu International Convention Center earned over P32 million from 237 events for January 2007 to June 2008, while the loan-funded South Road Properties is “just lying there empty, save for some migratory birds."
Environmentalists should heap lavish praises on Mayor Tommy for providing a costly home for migratory birds.
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Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Administrator Vicente Suazo Jr. said if maritime laws were followed strictly, no vessel owned by shipping lines in Central Visayas would be allowed to sail because of numerous defects.
That confirms the goosebumps I had whenever I'm on a boat.
Can you imagine, you are in fact sailing on a "floating coffin?"
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So why are these unseaworthy passenger ferries still allowed to sail when they put the lives of the public in great risk?
If they're ready to sink in fair or foul weather, better convert them into submarines.
