I am a regular user of the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) oval. Or should I say, I was?
Exactly a year ago last Saturday, the CCSC shut its doors purportedly to give way to its rehabilitation in preparation for the 2024 Palarong Pambansa which opens here in July. Mayor Michael Rama, who is currently serving a six-month suspension, issued the closure order.
It was simply called Abellana when I started running in the oval in the late seventies. The property was, and is still is, part of the Abellana National School compound, courtesy of a donation from the Cebu City Government. That is why there are classrooms in the grandstand building and on top of the parking area.
The track was more like a dirt road than a sporting facility then. When it rained, pools of water appeared in many sections, especially those adjoining the school buildings. In the summer, the faster runners left a cloud of dust in their wake.
Then Tommy OsmeƱa and Joy Young came along. Tommy, then the city mayor and Joy, a councilor, secured a usufruct from the school and proceeded to modernize the facility. The dirt road was no more. In its place came a rubberized track. The CCSC was born.
As a regular user of the oval, I had hoped that the closure, which took effect in May last year, would be short-lived. I should have known better. Today, the facility is in worse condition than when Rama shut it down. At least the track still had its rubberized layer then even if cracks had appeared in some sections. When Acting Mayor Raymond Garcia inspected the CCSC a few days ago, he discovered that not an inch of replacement rubber matting had been installed.
We are bound to pay (I am a Cebu City taxpayer) the contractor P52 million plus for the project. Two other contractors actually submitted lower bids but were disqualified on a technicality. Hmm. Why am I not surprised?
What is remarkable is that the City Government did not initiate the bidding until August or three months after the CCSC locked its doors to the public. Evidently, there was no urgency to close it unless you define urgency as spiting the Provincial Government by preventing it from staging its Pasigarbo sa Sugbo at the CCSC.
Two months later, the City gave the notice of award to the winning bidder. Another three months passed before they served (on Jan. 16) the notice to proceed, according to a very extensive SunStar Cebu report last Tuesday. In other words, it took the Rama administration eight months since it shut down the oval for repairs to finally greenlight actual work. Holy cow!
During those eight months the CCSC could have earned P60,000 daily as entrance and rental fees. Eight months was also how long we have patiently waited for the CCSC to reopen its doors to us, ordinary citizens. And there is no relief in sight yet.
The contractor was supposed to finish the project in 120 days. That period expired last week and the track still looks like it is built for offroad racing. The rubber matting is still missing. Will he be penalized for the delay?
The Palaro is fast approaching. With Rama on forced vacation, the responsibility of ensuring a successful hosting now rests with Garcia. From all appearances, he has taken the burden seriously.
He has temporarily halted the procurement of materials and supplies needed for the Palaro pending a process review amid allegations of overpricing. The unstated message is that he would cancel deals that are unfavorable to the government and run after those involved in the inofficious selection of suppliers and contractors.
That should include, and specially so, the rehabilitation of the oval. How a contractor who allegedly has a record of not finishing other Cebu City Government projects on time bagged the contract over two bidders with cheaper quotations deserves a thorough review.
They owe it to us, ordinary citizens, who were the intended beneficiaries when the CCSC was built but have been deprived of its use for 12 months now.