IN preparation for the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the country, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants the city cleaned and beautified.
The mayor said he will ask utility and telecommunication companies to remove all black “spaghetti wires” or tangled wires and have those that are still needed color-coded.
He said they will have three years to finish the undertaking or face consequences. The 500th anniversary of Catholicism’s arrival in the country will be celebrated in 2021.
“Before that event, we will cut all the black wires. All those things garbled around will all be gone and the new ones they will install better be neat, bundled and color-coded...I want to change the face of Cebu. This is our chance,” he said.
The purpose of color-coding, Osmeña said, is to easily identify who are the owners of the wires. He pointed out that there are some firms that are reckless who just install new wires without removing the old ones.
“If we don’t do this now, it will not happen again in the next 500 years. This is our chance. This is our excuse to tell them now (to do it) or get out,” he added.
Osmeña said he plans to talk to the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) about the project.
“Once I get Veco to agree and they will change the color, the others I don’t care. I don’t care about PLDT. I don’t care about Sky Cable. If they want to lose their business, fine. There is a deadline, which is three years from now so they can’t say that they don’t have time. Basta, as long as the Veco is solved, the others will be cut off,” he said.
According to Osmeña, the companies may prioritize cleaning the city’s major thoroughfares.
Aside from this, he wants all graffiti in the city to be covered by red and yellow paint, the colors of Señor Sto. Niño’s garb and the annual Sinulog celebration.
“We need volunteer groups for this because it is a little complicated,” he said.
Osmeña also said he wants celosia flowers from Barangay Sirao to be planted all over the city.
Asked where these will be placed, he said he wants the public to plant it outside their houses.
“We will tell people to buy it (the plants). We will just ask people. It’s like Christmas decorations, put it outside your house, in your window. Whatever. It should all bloom at the same time. All the center islands will also have yellow and red so when the visitors come to Cebu, lain gyod ang look. They will say this is Cebu. Cebu City will show itself to the world,” he said.
The mayor said he still has many plans in preparation for the 500th anniversary but he won’t divulge these for now yet since there are many things that need to be done. (RVC)