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Thursday, March 02, 2006
4-day holiday in Cebu for Asean: mayor asks
CEBU CITY -- Unfazed by opposition from the business sector, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will insist that a four-day holiday be declared in Cebu during the Asean summit in December, to make peace and order management easier.
"I'm the overall in-charge of the peace and order. Do not think that they will not try this time. They will try. We have to try to contain the situation because even now when there is no summit, traffic is chaotic and you can't control the peace and order. And at the time we have 17 presidents arriving here, we have to have a situation that I can control," Osmeña said in a radio interview Wednesday.
The mayor said he will not give in to the businessmen's request.
"To them it's a business issue; to me this is an issue on safety. Can they not sacrifice for three days?" the mayor said in a news conference Wednesday noon in his office at City Hall.
The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other business groups submitted a position paper to Malacañang through Felix Guanzon, presidential assistant for the Visayas, asking President Arroyo's to reconsider the holiday from Dec. 11 to 14.
Robert Go, president of CCCI, told radio dyLA Wednesday they are asking that the nonworking holiday be imposed only on government offices, otherwise Cebu City will be look like a "ghost town" when the Asean summit delegates arrive.
They said the business sector will be incurring losses because they will be forced to give overtime pay to employees who will have to work during the four-day holiday.
Guanzon reportedly told the businessmen that their points will be studied by the presidential staff.
Told about the position paper, the mayor said he will still try to encourage owners of gasoline stations to close.
"I don't care. I'm after safety. Well, of course, that's up to them but at least, my obligation is to explain to everybody that the issue is public safety not economics. It's only three days out of the year. There are 365 days. Just try to make it a holiday, that's all. Why? Is there work on Good Friday?" Osmeña said.
Although he said he is not aware that Davao City is campaigning that the Asean summit be held there, the mayor said there is always a possibility that the venue will be changed, with the businessmen here opposing to a holiday.
The business sector, however, said they are happy that Cebu City will be the host for the summit except for the holiday.
"It's better to be transferred somewhere else para wa nay samok. I will not have it either way. If they don't want a holiday, they better have it somewhere else. If they want to manage the peace and order, it's up to them. But I'm the mayor of Cebu City," he lamented.
Osmeña doubts that other cities like Davao and Bacolod will be able to accommodate all the 17 heads of state and other delegates in their hotels.
"Somebody will grab it away from you if they have the chance. There's the fact that they can't even accommodate 17 heads of state. We even have a hard time finding 17 presidential suites," he said.
So far, the hotels, which are willing to accommodate the delegates, include the Cebu Marriott Hotel, Marco Polo, The Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa and Shang-ri la Mactan, the mayor said. (GAC of Sun.Star Cebu)
(March 2, 2006 issue)
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