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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Mayor road closure order overturns Arroyo's
By Gingging A. Campaña and Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- Mayor Tomas Osmeña denied he closed the Cebu South Coastal Road Project to pressure the National Government to release the titles of the South Reclamation Project (SRP), but his move contradicted an earlier order of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to open the road to traffic.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 7 Assistant Director Marlina Alvizo said they were surprised by the mayor's orders that they wrote Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane of the developments.
Alvizo said President Arroyo during her visit to Cebu City last March 27 authorized the DPWH, in a verbal order, "to open the coastal road to traffic."
"It was closed on the discretion of the mayor and we were not informed about the closure. We are just awaiting further instructions from the head office," she told Sun.Star Monday.
Osmeña ordered the coastal highway closed last Friday when officials and employees of the DPWH, which was implementing a four-day workweek, were out.
In a long distance interview with DPWH 7 Director Juanito Abergas, who was in Manila, he said nobody informed them of the plan to close the coastal road.
"If it was the mayor who ordered the closure, he may have his reasons," he told Sun.Star.
Abergas refused to comment whether Osmeña has the authority to close a national road, although the mayor said he has the right to do so, citing the general welfare clause.
Osmeña's move stunned officials of Talisay City, although they were able to remove Monday the roadblock out of its "territory." Talisay is claiming ownership of 53.44-hectares of the SRP.
"By what power or authority does Mayor Osmeña have to close the coastal road?" Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez said.
Talisay City Attorney Aurora Econg, in a separate interview, said Osmeña has no authority to close the coastal road because he does not own it.
"It is owned by the people and it is owned by the National Government," she said.
Mayor Osmeña admitted using the road closure against Talisay but not on pressuring Malacañang.
He said he will only have the road opened after three years when the segment 3B of the coastal road, which is the tunnel under Plaza Independencia, is completed and the SRP is finished.
Traffic during peak hours at daytime on the Cebu South Road has eased since the coastal road was opened last May to traffic.
But when City Hall closed the coastal road last Friday, motorists experienced heavy traffic at the Cebu South Road again. Some of them even tried to remove the blockade.
Despite this, Osmeña scoffed at the complaints saying that it "was not my intention to show it this way."
"Now they will know how it will be like with a road like that. Everybody attacked me for that," he said, explaining that when he conceived the SRP and endorsed the coastal road project, no elected official helped him lobby for the funds of the projects.
Osmeña cited the general welfare clause because of reported thefts, vandalism and drug trade at the SRP for closing it.
He said the City Government could no longer afford to allocate more funds to have the reclaimed areas cleaned, maintained and secured for visitors to see.
He also said the closure has something to do with his quarrel with Talisay City.
Talisay City Vice Mayor Aberdovey Belleza led Monday four policemen and staff from the city attorney's office in clearing the corner of Laray and SRP road of the roadblock.
A police report said Belleza insisted opening the intersection because the portion of the SRP is within Talisay's territory not of Cebu City.
Police Officer 1 Roy Cabahug, one of the eight Cebu City policemen assigned to secure the roadblock, said they were at the end of the coastal road near the old Bureau of Customs building on M.C. Briones St. Cebu City when the Laray side was cleared of roadblocks at 3 p.m.
He said Mayor Osmeña came at the site after being told of Talisay's action, but was calm when he ordered them to move the roadblock to the approach of the SRP bridge, around a kilometer from the corner of Laray road.
Traffic along Laray road bound for Cebu City and along N. Bacalso Ave. going to Talisay City was slow during rush hour since last Friday.
Police Officer 1 Erwin Denila, of Talisay police, said the congestion was caused by the rerouting of all vehicles to their old routes because of the closure.
Osmeña admitted that it was his "personal decision and endorsement to have the coastal road opened last May before the elections so we could have something to showcase to the public during the President's visit."
"Dali na kay hapit na ang election. It was not even inaugurated. Just a ribbon cutting (Let's hurry up because it's election time)," he added. (With STC intern Anabelle Lumapas)
(April 12, 2005 issue)
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