Concessions

There was perhaps much reason for groups like the multisectoral Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC) to voice disappointment over President Benigno  Aquino III’s decision to delay, not suspend, the construction of flyover projects by ordering a study of traffic in the affected areas.

The traffic study is supposed to end sometime this month, which means that it may be half-baked at best with references to past traffic studies, and if engineers at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) bother to include it, the Technical Working Group (TWG) report that recommended the suspension of the flyover projects.

But the past few days have seen the father-daughter tandem of Rep. Rachel del Mar of Cebu City’s north district and former congressman Raul del Mar lobby hard for their flyover projects with some degree of success.

The elder Del Mar was in the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting to represent his daughter and remind the members about previous endorsement of the projects. A confrontation was averted when one official called to table the discussion of the TWG report at least until March next year.

That said, the MLC and its adherents must have known about the President’s political balancing act long before Mayor Rama and Representative Del Mar met with him last Monday even if they profess to believe otherwise. Their counterparts in the ecology advocacy trail can perhaps share a thing or two to them about disappointments.

With a hundred million and one concerns on his plate, the President can hardly be expected to just scrap or suspend the projects without giving some concessions to Del Mar, whose father by extension is a close political ally of Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, the man responsible for delivering the votes in Cebu.

For that’s what last Monday’s Palace meeting was all about: concessions. To expect the President to decide there and then to suspend the projects, especially ones that received RDC endorsement, mainly on the MLC’s say-so, is—given the current socio-political climate in the country—unrealistic.

For an average person, more so a President, cannot be expected to fully grasp and appreciate the arguments and concepts of sustainability put forth by the anti-flyover proponents without being convinced about the benefits that it will entail.

To reiterate the obvious, the MLC has its work cut out for them to try and convince skeptics about the soundness of their proposal to drop the flyovers in favor of flared intersections. The burden of proving their case to the RDC members who can revoke their endorsement and the public lies squarely on their shoulders.
Rather than complain, the group should be thankful and start their grassroots campaign and lobbying in the RDC to convince them about the viability of their proposal.