More needs to be done for Cebu City
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama boasted of a long list of accomplishments in the State of the City Address (Soca) that he delivered in Plaza Sugbo on Monday. He highlighted the city’s P4 billion in annual revenues and P15 billion in properties.
The mayor’s report, like most situationers that government executives deliver, painted a partial picture of current conditions in the city.
Cebu City may be earning P4 billion a year but the figure is not that impressive in view of the P4 billion debt that City Hall has to pay in installments until 2025 for the South Road Properties.
In the same speech, Mayor Rama lamented the city’s meager 2012 budget, which is half the size of what he submitted to the City Council, whom he blamed for his inability to implement several programs.
Rama announced the future distribution of P10,000 in annual cash gifts for the city’s senior citizens, news that beneficiaries applauded.
The elderly, a registered block of 50,000 in the city, were the only overt targets for service when other marginalized sectors also need attention, not least of which are dwellers who still sleep in the streets.
The increase in cash incentives for the elderly is no guarantee it will win him enough votes that count, what with an “unfriendly” City Council waiting in the wings to claim credit for facilitating the gifts.
The mayor highlighted the beautification of Osmeña Boulevard with the help of private partners in the Beautiful Cebu Foundation but the spruced up road now contrasts more sharply now the potholes and filth elsewhere in the city where trash often lies uncollected and gutters spill over sewer water.
In fairness to Rama, the slow pace of change in Cebu City since he sat at its helm in 2010 is not due to his lack of effort. Infighting among city officals has been costly and is not expected to abate in this election year.
Perhaps the last chance for some meaningful change can be seized by the captains who ought to shy away from City Hall intramurals if they are to use to great effect the P400 million that Rama said will soon be released to them as barangay aid.
More needs to be done than decorating the main roads, keeping a robust bank account and keeping our elders happy.
The street children, crime victims, parents who lost their kids to drugs, those in dire need of medical attention know that.
