Saturday, July 26, 2008 Roperos: Public good vs. process By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
THERE is this very interesting question that occurred to my mind right after I read yesterday’s headline story in this daily that said the “RDC opposes Mactan Project.” I was not quite definite about why the RDC is opposed to the Mactan project.
But after reading the report, I realized why the RDC opposed the project. The RDC, it appears, did not question the Mactan project per se, but rather the officials “were questioning the process and not necessarily the project itself.”
Now, my curiosity was really aroused. If it is the process that is at issue, and not the viability of the project itself, the question should be a matter of pride and hurt feelings on the part of RDC, and not because the project was patently bad and disadvantageous to our people. Called the Mactan North Reclamation and Development Project, it made me wonder whether it is the same project that was proposed when the late Jun Weigel was still mayor of Lapulapu City. I recall the project also caused a subdued stir then.
I say subdued, because there was really no open public discussion about it, but I believe former governor Lito Osmeña was also involved in it, and the incumbent governor then was Pabling Garcia. It was a project that was already through the incubation stage and was ready to hatch, once the governor would sign the documents. But it failed to hatch because of a hitch among the proponents. When the governor was about to sign it in his office, someone or another intervened, a heated altercation ensued. End of project.
At any rate, this time around, if it is the same project I have in my mind, it is going to produce a considerable piece of valuable property to Lapu-Lapu City. Four hundred hectares of prime land is certainly no joke. If it is true that the President has given it the go signal, then what’s the problem, if in the end, it is for the public good? I understand Gov. Gwen Garcia did not interpose any objection to it. Why should she? It will be an added source of public wealth to the people of Cebu, that is, if the project is really, truly good.
What seems disturbing, though, is why the RDC immediately passed a resolution opposing it before the body had even heard what the project is about, whether or not it is really for the good of the Cebuanos and the country. The way the RDC meeting went, it made me think that there were a lot of people trying to dip their fingers into the reported P10-billion peso “pie.” The interest was all around in the meeting’s “atmosphere,” betraying the possibility that the potential financial returns of the proposal are quite enormous.
But then, I like to think, too, that the public good the project nourishes within its embrace is truly significant that it could far outweigh whatever misgivings one would have about the people who would be working for the project’s realization. My point is that bypassing a step in the process should not be imposed as an impediment/penalty for the transgression. It is something that good faith and a sense of public good could easily overcome.
