I do not know the name of the street. It is unmarked, has been for as long as I can remember. An officemate, using Google Maps, said it is Manuel Oyson St. Although Maning lived nearby, I’m still not sure if it is the street named after him. I won’t be until the city government installs the corresponding street marker.
If it is, I’d say what a disrespectful way to celebrate the life of one of the best sportswriters in Cebu of his generation. The road is in such state of disrepair, the word “dilapidated” could have been invented exclusively to define it.
I should know. I pass by it at least twice a day seven days a week. It is where the big, so-called modern, jeepneys are parked while the drivers have their breakfast. For a while I thought that they were trying to avoid the “libreng sakay” on buses plying the 01K route but I saw a number of them past nine yesterday morning (“libreng sakay is supposedly from 6 to 9 a.m., and from 5 to 8 p.m.). The Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) headed by Raquel Arce can, of course, always check but I’m giving the drivers the benefit of the doubt.
Back to the road, I think that the last time it received attention from the government was more than a decade ago after I also complained about it on this page. Mike Rama was the mayor and Rene Mercado his unofficial chief of staff.
It was Rene who told me that Mike sarcastically asked if we were still friends. Two days later, Oyson was asphalted; so was a part of a nearby road leading to and ending at our gate. Obviously, Mike and I were still friends even if he had a wry sense of humor.
I am confident that Mayor Nestor Archival and I would still be friends after he reads this, assuming he reads this. A few weeks after he was sworn in, I told him about the road and he asked for the name so he could have it fixed. He asked again last week at his office. So here it is, Mayor.
The mayor also said he will do something about the missing street markers. I cannot remember when the signs started disappearing. I am not sure if there are any left.
We were in Cadiz City a couple of months ago and were impressed by the highly visible street markers all over the city. It made locating addresses easier. Here, we don’t use the street name anymore when giving directions. How many even know the name of the street where SM City Cebu or the Cebu City Hall stands?
These are small or perhaps even parochial concerns. But without meaning to trivialize a Biblical passage, trust in the ability to do big is created in the small things that we do.
Speaking of parochial concerns, I am sad to learn that my hometown, Pio V. Corpus, was devastated by Typhoon Opong. In fact the whole province of Masbate was not spared the brunt of the typhoon’s ferocity.
I’ve lived through typhoons in my youth and still carry the emotional scars of the aggravated deprivation in each aftermath. My fervent prayer is that government response was more immediate and more significant this time than during ours.