Compromise on city’s progress

Easter Week opened with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama reminding the public that a bright future lay ahead if only the city government would hasten the sale of parcels of land in the South Road Properties.

Mayor Rama said the money  raised from the sale of the lots would be used to finance solutions to problems like peace and order and drainage, effectively compensating for the lack of funds for them after they councilors struck them off his 2012 budget proposal.

Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III, head of broadcasting giant ABS-CBN is reportedly waiting in the wings to purchase land in the SRP. He is eyeing a commercial center in the place akin to Makati City’s Rockwell.

It looks like it is high time for the city to sell SRP lots. After all, it remains a pure reclamation area apart from the ongoing works there.

There is a senior citizens’ center, an office of the Association of Barangay Councils, a jetty, the SM and Filinvest infrastructures and a lot for an extension campus of the University of the Philippines Cebu.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, who completed the SRP when he was mayor, has a different plan. He would rather wait for the value of the land to go up after the inauguration of the projects of the first investors.

To avoid another ugly political dispute, the former and current mayor and their partisans should find points of compatibility in their visions for the SRP and the city’s coffers.

Rama needs to show to the public that he has other ideas for raising money apart from taking a loan from banks and maximizing tax collection from citizens.

The latter should be pursued with an effective working relationship between Rama’s office and that of the city treasurer. There is not too much time between now and the next polls for the mayor to insist on putting his own man or woman at the top of the treasury.

At the same time, Rama–Osmeña more so–ought to heed Roberto Varquez of the  Cebu Investment Promotions Center. Varquez said there is a need to make the marketing of SRP lots more aggressive if any more land is to be sold.

It would be wrong to wait for the private firms now working in SRP to finish their edifices before seeking other big investors who can buy lots, build infrastructure and generate employment there.

Osmeña, meanwhile, ought to give Rama a breather by urging his party mates from Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan in the City Council to support the incumbent mayor when the time comes for him to submit a supplementary budget proposal to fund services for constituents.

Officials need to be proactive and systematic in their plan for the property that is to be the blood-life of Cebu City’s economy in the not too distant future.

Above all they should not through bitter politics consign to the back burner their task of addressing the most pressing problems facing residents.