Did the mayor just doom the Kawit Project?

It's out in the news that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has withheld 31 pending applications for the construction of medium- and high-rise buildings purportedly for another six months. There he goes again, using excuses, that he hasn't yet gotten reports on the cause of the fire that struck Metro Ayala, which has nothing to do with his proposal to impose height restrictions on buildings to be constructed in Cebu City.

Mayor Osmeña used as his example Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California, where buildings are limited to three stories. He didn't tell you that California has a huge landmass, after all the United States of America is a huge country, while Cebu is a small island. Mayor Osmeña is comparing apples with avocadoes in his example. Yet when he first campaigned to be the mayor of Cebu City 20 plus years ago, his slogan was for Cebu to be a city "second to none!" He targeted Singapore because like Cebu, Singapore is an island. So where did the comparison to Beverly Hills come from?

Mayor Osmeña has uncanny ways of refusing to approve building permits. Years ago the Ciudad Project of then Mr. Michael Dino (now PresidentialAssistant for the Visayas), which was approved by the Province of Cebu led by then Governor Gwen Garcia, was blocked by Osmeña using the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management to conduct a traffic study on the effects of Ciudad in the traffic congestion in the BaniladTalamban road. To date, I haven't seen a single page of that traffic study. But Cebu City lost business because the mayor blocked this project even with a Malaysian investor.

Mayor Osmeña's proposal to limit to four stories all new buildings in Cebu has earned him the moniker as "anti-business." I dare him force all investors in Cebu to only build four floors and believe me, many investors will no longer come to Cebu. In fact just last November, a proud Mayor Osmeña showed a colored perspective of the P18-billion project that JG Summit plans to construct in the South Road Properties where they would lease for 50 years eight hectares in what used to be Kawit Island.

If you Google that news report, you will see Mayor Osmeña himself showing to the media the proposed plans of JG Summit for the eight hectare property they would lease, and many of those buildings are certainly high-rises. Mayor, pray tell me that you will inform Mr. John Gokongwei that he can no longer pursue his high-rise buildings in Kawit Island. Or maybe he will exempt JG Summit from his building height limitation? Abangan!

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How the weather has changed in the last few years. At this time the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical ServicesAdministration warned of a low-pressure area named "Agaton" that could hit land in Eastern Visayas or Mindanao today. This is why we are having a rainy Sinulog week. Let's hope and pray that it will not develop into a typhoon that could affect devotees planning to come to Cebu for the Sinulog week. Agaton could end up stopping shipping operations because of stormy seas. For sure it is going to be a wet weather week.

Because of this climate change, the officers of the Cebu Country Club finally decided to move its Coral Tee Golf Tournament to the first week of February not just because the weather during the Sinulog week will be wet, but also to help golfers from all over the country to get cheaper hotel accommodations as hotel rates skyrocket during the Sinulog week. Finally, the CCCI did something about the past complaints of golfers playing the Coral Tee.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has raised alert levels for Mt. Mayon after it erupted last Saturday. While Mt. Mayon is far from us in Cebu, it can force passenger aircraft flying between Cebu and Manila to divert lest their engines ingest the toxic smoke that the volcano spews into the atmosphere. Let's hope that Mt. Mayon is just acting up for its annual coughing activity, otherwise it might threaten to cancel the annual Federation of Motorcycle Clubs convention, which is slated to be held by April.

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.