Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival’s State of the City Address (Soca) was essentially a campaign speech. It consisted mainly of the initial meager achievements of his administration and his grand vision for Cebu City. The subliminal message is for Cebu City folks to reelect him so he can fulfill his promised commitments to the city. (Note that since we did not reelect former mayor Mike Rama, we have no way of knowing if Cebu City could become Singapore-like as he dreamed.)
What defines the true state of Cebu City are mainly the urgent challenges people face and what is being done about them. As I see it, the more urgent of these challenges are solid waste management, housing, traffic, flooding and Carbon. These problems, if given proper solutions, can make Cebu the “smart, self-sufficient, and inclusive” city its mayor envisions it to be.
To his credit, Mayor Archival has agreed to implement the acclaimed solid waste management program of Bayawan City. This is a community-based program that reduces residual waste to 15 percent of total garbage, thus minimizing the need for a landfill. Of the remaining 85 percent, solids are sold to recyclers, while biodegradables are converted to organic fertilizer. Schools, businesses, churches and civic groups have responded positively to this smart and sustainable program.
However, on housing, Cebu City is still betting on medium-rise buildings (MRBs) that are hardly affordable and sustainable to would-be occupants. MRBs are also not so practical for the conduct of some of their intended occupants’ sources of income. Like, where would a salted-fish maker dry the fish in a condo unit, to cite one extreme example?
Digitizing traffic management is smart. The Bus Rapid Transit also helps. But Filipinos take their cars and motorcycles as status symbols and do not use public transport out of a sense of community spirit. They, moreover, obey traffic rules only if somebody is watching. These cultural barriers that signal a lack of self-discipline must be hurdled if traffic gridlock is to be avoided.
Cebu folks still have to hear of a rationalized plan or program to prevent flooding and solve Cebu’s water problem. Mayor Archival is on track with his tree-planting program; but that takes care of only a small part of the problem.
A recent Commission on Audit report has exposed the joint venture agreement (JVA) as a showcase of official incompetence and corruption. For reasons we can only surmise, the original signers failed to exercise due diligence, the least of which is to read the document in full. Mayor Archival conveniently skipped it in his Soca. Vice Mayor Osmeña did assure Carbon vendors they will not be forgotten. But this also smacks of a campaign promise. If Cebu City doesn’t stop Megawide’s ongoing construction in Carbon, this assurance has zero chance of fulfillment.
The JVA has to be scrapped. Cebu City is on the losing end of the JVA. More importantly, it is anything but inclusive. It excludes small ambulant vendors, cart-pushers, loaders and unloaders from their means of livelihood. It excludes Cebuanos from their traditional access to affordable food and basic necessities.