DPWH boss defers flyover plan near temple
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson told his staff to “defer” plans to build a P201 million flyover in Gorordo Avenue in front of the new Mormon temple in Cebu City.
The budget will be “realigned” to other projects which will be identified after further study, he was quoted as saying.
Singson’s verbal directive was given in Manila during a meeting on Friday in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) attended by DPWH Regional Director Ador Canlas, who relayed the order to his own staff in Cebu City in a meeting yesterday, according to DPWH 7 spokesperson Marie Mignon Nillama.
“The Secretary said the flyover budget will be used in another way so the funds won’t be wasted,” said Nillama.
She said the Secretary was responding to the outcry against new flyovers from groups like the Movement for a Liveable Cebu, which agrees with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama that adding massive two-lane flyovers without a comprehensive traffic plan would just worsen the problem when other solutions like road widening and new routes haven’t been fully explored.
Six flyovers are listed in the DPWH 2012 list of funded projects.
Citizen lobby groups are closely watching their progress and whether Secretary Singson’s standing order last year to suspend all flyovers will be lifted when nobody is watching.
Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña, who arrived last Sunday from the United States, said a new flyover can wait until after the 2013 elections when he aims to replace Mayor Rama.
Osmeña said he was the one one who proposed the Gorordo Avenue-Doña Modesta flyover (between the Mormon temple and JY Square) even though it falls in the north district, which isn’t his area.
Osmeña said he wants a flyover to connect to an access road he wants to open from the Guadalupe bridge in the south district to the Ecotech Center in Sudlon.
This road would serve as a parallel and alternative road to the already congested Escario Street, said the south district congressman.
“In due time, all of these can be done,” he said in a press conference.
“While we already have the alternative road, there’s a bottleneck when you reach Gorordo Avenue. That’s why I saw the need for a flyover there. But the flyover will no be affective the Mormon temple,” said Osmeña.
MLC public relations officer Louella Alix said the deferral was expected because there was no endorsement for the flyover from the Cebu City Development Council
“Mura man na ug na-hijack. The process was sidestepped. Of course there is a public outcry,” she said.
Alix said she hopes the DPWH was not engaged in double talk by saying the project won’t be implemented, and then later on push on with it.
MLC convenor Rudy Alix cited two reasons Gorordo Avenue residents are against a flyover, especially the one proposed near the Asilo dela Milagrosa, which drew a firestorm of protest last year.
“For one, Gorordo residents and visitors want a good vista of the good spots in Cebu. You can’t have that with flyovers around. Second, they have long wanted improvement in the road leading to the Taoist Temple. Why are politicians prioritizing flyovers over that?” he asked.
Drainage projects and road improvements are more pressing than flyovers, he added.
“A flyover is not needed – not yet. We are campaigning for a comprehensive planning with due citizen consultation as required by the Local Government Code,” Alix said.
MLC, a citizens group that formed after last year’s opposition to the Gorordo Avenue flyover near the landmark Asilo compound, are seeking a resolution of support from the Lahug barangay council.
“We have consulted with Gorordo homeowners and we will have another meeting with them this week. We were supposed to discuss how to stop the flyover but since it has already been deferred, it will be more of a celebration,” Rudy told Cebu Daily News.
Mayor Rama, who is chairman of the CDC and Regional Development Council, last week rejected two other flyover projects which DPWH is seeking funding for in the 2013 national budget.
One is on M.J. Cuenco near the Mabolo church and the other at the Ayala access road.
Congressman Osmeña said both can still get funding from the national government without the endorsement.
He said there is “no law” requiring prior approval of the CDC or RDC before a request for funding is made.
“There is no such law. Maybe it’s a lack of courtesy (to the councils), but that is not a law,” he insisted.
“These two bodies are consultative bodies. It may be desirable to inform them but that is not a violation of law,” said Osmeña.
He said the DPWH had implemented several projects in Cebu City without consulting the mayor such as the massive asphalting of city roads and installation of decorative lampposts for the 2007 ASEAN summit.
“So far his(Rama’s) only purpose as RDC chairman is to destroy the city projects and all flyover projects,” he said. /Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao, Doris Bongcac and Jessa Chrisna Marie J. Agua
