Archival won’t back Osmeña-led push to reject SRP leg of CBRT route

CEBU City Mayor Nestor Archival has said that his office can ask for changes, but it cannot cancel a national transport project already partly built.

The mayor will not support a City Council proposal to reject the South Road Properties leg of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project. The proposal was authored by his ally and Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) party leader, Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Archival said his disagreement with the proposal should not be treated as a personal conflict with the BOPK chief.

“We have different ideas, but that doesn’t mean there is a conflict of personal interests,” he said.

For commuters, the issue is whether the long-delayed bus system will first serve the southern barangays that need it most, or continue with a route that includes the SRP, where part of the infrastructure is already in place.

Archival said the City Government’s next move should be to write to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), not pass a resolution trying to remove a section of the project.

“I will just send a letter to the DOTr because I don’t know how we can remove something that has already been installed. The infrastructure is already there. What remains are the stations, but the route itself already exists,” Archival said in an interview on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

Why there’s dispute over the SRP route

Osmeña authored the resolution urging Cebu City to reject the SRP segment of the CBRT realignment, arguing that the project should prioritize commuters from Bulacao and other southern barangays instead of passing through commercial areas.

The measure received seven votes in favor, with two councilors voting against it and four abstaining.

Archival said he understands Osmeña’s concern. He acknowledged the vice mayor’s view that the city had been “shortchanged” because the project was realigned away from poorer communities in the south, which Osmeña believes should have been the immediate priority.

But the mayor said the records he reviewed show that SRP had long been included in the project’s approved plans.

Archival rejected calls to remove the SRP segment, saying the city has no authority to cancel a National Government project.

“I don’t know how to cancel it,” he said. “The DOTr’s reports already show that SRP has long been included in the plan.”

City Hall’s limited authority

Archival said the CBRT is not a City Government project. It is funded and implemented by the National Government, with the City as a beneficiary.

“I don’t have the power because this is not our project. We are only beneficiaries,” he said.

That, he said, also limits what the City Council can do. While Cebu City residents share in national obligations as taxpayers, Archival said the city government cannot simply order the removal of a project component being carried out by the DOTr.

He also pointed to a practical problem: part of the SRP infrastructure has already been built.

“Whether you like it or not, it’s already there. If we cancel it, what do we do with it? Not put buses there?” he said.

The adjustment Archival wants

Instead of scrapping the SRP component, Archival said he will ask the DOTr to study whether Phase 1 operations can be adjusted to better serve commuters from Mambaling and Bulacao.

Phase 1 refers to the broader initial scope of the CBRT project, which was originally mapped out to include Packages 1, 2 and 3. Package 1 is the specific 2.38-kilometer construction contract covering the route from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) to the Capitol area via Osmeña Blvd.

Archival wants the DOTr to look into extending operations so buses can reach Mambaling and Bulacao before looping back to SRP.

He said the original CBRT concept had buses coming from Bulacao, passing through Mambaling, CSBT, Osmena Blvd., the Capitol area, Escario St., Cebu Business Park, Cebu IT Park and Talamban before returning along the route.

Project documents describe the earlier CBRT alignment as a 21.58-kilometer corridor from Bulacao to Talamban. Later design changes expanded the project to about 35 kilometers, including dedicated busways and feeder services linking areas such as Mambaling, Bulacao, Talisay, SRP, IT Park and Talamban.

Archival said those revisions added a stronger SRP and Talisay connection to the project.

Even with those changes, Archival said the original transport plan associated with Osmeña remained largely intact.

“The original concept is still there,” he said.

The reason SRP moved first

Archival said he had earlier asked DOTr officials to temporarily open the exclusive center lane of the CBRT Package 1’s corridor to jeepneys.

He said transport officials told him that other sections of the project would have taken more time and likely faced stronger opposition from affected sectors.

“They told me it would take a lot of time and effort because there would be many complaints. Here, there were fewer issues, so implementation became easier,” he said.

Archival said that explanation also answers the question of why the SRP portion moved ahead of other parts of the route.

“We simply have different perspectives. In government, you go with the least resistance. We just navigate based on the situation,” he said.

World Bank financing concerns

Archival also addressed reports that the World Bank had canceled a large portion of its financing for the CBRT. He said his understanding is that the bank still intends to support Cebu’s public transport program.

“My understanding is that there is still an intention to help,” he said.

Archival said one reason for the project’s restructuring was the cost of delays. The government, he said, had been paying standby fees on loan proceeds that remained largely unused.

“They saw that the government was bleeding because we kept paying standby fees,” he said.

What’s next

Archival’s position leaves the city with a narrower path. It can ask the DOTr for changes, but it cannot unilaterally remove the SRP leg.

The mayor said he will raise the council’s concerns with DOTr officials, especially the need to make sure Bulacao commuters are served by the system. / CAV