Don’t rely on pity

As if to dramatize the unnecessary intervention of Malacañang in the flyover projects, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district shared a conversation that Rep. Rachel del Mar of Cebu City’s north district heard between President Benigno Aquino III and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

He said the President told the mayor, “Maawa ka naman sa akin (Have pity on me), Mike, I have so many things to do. Just tell me what you want and what I can do for you.”

Rama reportedly responded by telling the President to look at the file of  papers he submitted  on the flyover projects.

Rama told reporters that he would have told the President to also show  pity on Cebuanos, particularly on experts who  warned that the  location of the proposed flyovers  projects won’t solve Cebu City’s traffic problem. “It’s not a question of awa (pity or compassion, take your pick) but what’s right,” the mayor replied.

Rama had a few more choice words for Robredo in another  interview, suggesting that the mayor-turned-Interior-and-Local-Government-secretary should stay out of the fray between anti- and pro-flyover groups and let the President make the decision himself.

But the mayor and  anti-flyover groups should realize, as Osmeña and the Del Mars who lobbied for the projects know only too well, that the burden of not only proving their case but also contradicting eight  previous Regional Development Council resolutions that facilitated the release of funds for the projects falls squarely on them.

The reasons to rethink the usefulness of flyovers were spelled out with brutal clarity by the ad hoc RDC Technical Working Group.

It’s not like the President  is a weary god, from  whom a solution is required. While  political pressure is obvious, it shouldn’t overshadow the  merits of solid discussion about  a  P600 million public investment, and  whether Metro Cebu will benefit in the end.

The two-hour meeting in Malacañang did not resolve the flyover dispute, and wasn’t meant to.

It did, however, show how much clout sponsors of the flyovers, the Del Mars aided by Congressman Tomas Osmeña, had in securing an audience with the  President on a busy Monday afternoon, in the prelude of  a Supreme Court showdown, to pay attention to a local infrastructure project of national funding.

Rama may be right when he said that the President can directly order the DPWH to stop funding the projects.  But  Robredo, a champion of local government empowerment, makes better sense in stating  that an “objective” decision can be reached  if  both sides set common  parameters.

Rely on pity?  Popular sentiment?    Political arm twisting?

The conversation that should have started years ago when the first Cebu City flyover was built should have included all stakeholders, not just the DPWH.

It’s not too late to have an outcome based on  actual expert studies on traffic, hard engineering, the latest science on sustainable growth, and a shared sense of love for Cebu.