A Cebu divided
DISAGREEMENT among public officials is part of democracy. Venting differences in public is integral to democratic discourse. As the parties hurl vitriol at each other, the public is educated about the shortcomings, even past questionable deeds, of opposing officials. We see this at the national level, and we see it in Cebu. But such spats are not always productive.
The otherwise cordial relationship between Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has soured in recent months. First was the disagreement over the venue of the annual Sinulog grand showdown. This disagreement resulted in Cebu City having two spectacular Sinulog showdowns within a week: one organized and hosted by the province, the other by the city. Personally, I found the rivalry in stark contrast to the spirit of Sinulog — the community coming together in celebration and veneration of the Holy Child.
The recent escalation in the word war between Governor Garcia and Mayor Rama came about when the governor, and later the provincial board, demanded the immediate stoppage of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project. First, the issue concerned the design of the bus stations that would be erected on the stretch of road connecting the 86-yearold provincial Capitol building and Cebu City’s iconic rotunda, Fuente Osmeña. According to the provincial officials, the bus station design would obstruct the “line of view” between the two historical points. Mayor Rama agrees with the observation and has asked the contractor to come up with a less imposing bus station design.
But from being a matter of obstructing a view, the call from the Capitol has become one of completely scrapping the project. The League of Municipalities of the Philippines Cebu Chapter joined the fray and issued a dramatic resolution wherein the mayors aver that the CBRT construction “has caused unimaginable agony in the lives of the Cebuanos due to traffic congestion.” The mayors expressed their strong support for the position of Governor Garcia that the CBRT in Cebu City “should be totally abdicated because it has caused irreparable injury to the economy of Cebu.”
Mayor Rama’s reaction was to tell the mayors to mind their own business and fix their own traffic problems first. Cebu City is an independent chartered city, administratively separated from the province. Later, Rama threatened with lawsuits, though it was not clear on what grounds he intended to sue.
Traffic in Cebu City was horrendous even before the groundbreaking of the CBRT project a year ago. But road and lane closures due to construction have pushed the traffic into other roads making the unbearable traffic at the heart of Cebu City even more unbearable. Of course, such a situation was expected. And a year into the project implementation — which has been delayed for years mostly due to politics — pulling the plug would make the “unimaginable agony” suffered by the riding public an agony in vain. Billions of pesos already spent by the national government on the project would go down the drain. Yes, the CBRT project is funded with loans taken by the national government 10 years ago. Work on the project should be speeded up, not stopped, so that the CBRT may be completed ahead of schedule. This would benefit the riding public — employees, students, tourists, shoppers and everyone else who has business or transactions in the city.
As for the “irreparable injury to the economy of Cebu,” as cited by the mayors in their call for the scrapping of the CBRT project, this brings to mind the most recent poverty statistics of the Philippine Statistics Authority. The 2023 first semester survey showed a poverty incidence among Cebu province’s population at 42.4 percent. This is the 10th highest poverty incidence in the country and comes despite the provincial government’s numerous innovative programs promoting entrepreneurship, infrastructure and tourism. So, yes, injury to the economy is a serious matter.
Where most provinces — and highly urbanized cities — in the Philippines saw poverty incidences decline after the pandemic, Cebu’s has continued to climb. While poverty levels in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue have retreated, they are still relatively high for HUCs at 14.5 percent, 14.7 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively. Being located in the Visayas, far from the national center, is not an excuse for the inability to eliminate poverty and hunger. Whether we like it or not, Cebu and its cities, including Cebu City, are one, bound by family ties, history, language, culture and economy. Province and city are different parts of the same body. The jobs and business opportunities are mostly in the city, but the city depends on manpower from the province. Tourists come for both city and nature experiences. What benefits the city benefits the province and vice versa, just as an economic downturn in one affects the other. Cebu is One. Politically motivated squabbles make headlines, but there is no winner. We sink or swim together.