Another concern

Former Capitol consultant Jose Eleazar Bersales raised an interesting point in his objection to the plan by the Cebu Provincial Government to construct a 20-story building, to be referred to as the Provincial Resource Center, inside the Capitol compound. While heritage is an important consideration, there is also the matter of traffic congestion in the area.

So while Gov. Hilario Davide III needs to follow the law and have the building constructed following specifications from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), he also has to listen to the opinions of the traffic managers of the Cebu City Government. Or he can talk with Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, whom he is friendly with.

The road in front of the Capitol compound is a traffic chokepoint, especially during peak hours. Construction of the building and even when work on it has been completed would almost certainly add to the congestion, more so because the building will not only host government offices but also commercial establishments.

The same problem actually scuttled, or was used to scuttle, the Sugbu project in the Banilad-Talamban (Bantal) area when now Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia was the governor. The scuttling of the project can be considered as one of the reasons Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino and Osmeña no longer see eye-to-eye. Dino’s firm proposed the project.

Which brings us to another interesting point, which is public involvement in the conception of projects. The usual process is for government officials to conceive projects, with the public merely a passive observer. But there are times when public observations and criticisms help, especially in weighing a project’s viability and practicality.

Bersales is no longer with the Capitol but his resurrection of an idea previously raised by former governor Emilio Osmeña about transferring the provincial seat outside of Cebu City can help the Capitol in coming up with a fuller decision on the construction of the resource center.