Cat and mouse game

It’s a familiar pattern in  the story of flyover projects in Cebu City. After the dust settles in one conflict,  Mayor Michael Rama and the Movement for Liveable Cebu get  another  unpleasant surprise from the  Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)

The cat-and-mouse game continues.

The latest flyover project to turn up on the DPWH priority list   was supposed to rise somewhere between  the new  Mormon temple and JY Square mall in Gorordo Avenue.

That has been deferred –  not scrapped altogether –  until someone looks the other way.

According to the DPWH, the project was deferred by Secretary Rogelio Singson, who listened to the outcry of affected residents and vigilant citizens like those in the Movement for a Liveable Cebu.

Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña owned up to his role as the autor of the project, even if it’s located in the north district out of his turf.

Now that it’s shelved, Osmeña preferred to show the smug patience of a man who can outwait a noisy rival , Mayor Michael Rama, whose days in City Hall are numbered.

“In due time all these can happen,” said Osmena, looking forward to the 2013 election and beyond.

What he said afterward was most telling; that while consultation with and endorsement from the Regional Development Council and the City Development Council is important, it doesn’t pose a legal obstacle to flyover projects since these are  funded by the national government.

With this,  Osmeña is allowed  room to castigate the Capitol’s Ciudad project in barangays Banilad and Talamban by saying that it didn’t undergo adequate public consultation ( It’s  Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s project and he  won’t allow it).

His vision and that of former congressman Raul del Mar to erect a a chain of flyovers in  Cebu City has served as a blueprint for the DPWH’s  infrastructure program.

This just reinforces the anomaly of leaving decisions of what to build in public infrastrcuture to national legislators  who are non-engineers, non-urban planners,  non-architects and not that interested to go through the  pains of public consultation  at the community level.

We mean here genuine, sincere inquiry with various stakeholders and not the short cut of rounding up barangay captains to dangle  additional aid in exchange for signatures on a manifest of support for flyovers.

If we want Metro Cebu to ripen to a “Mega Cebu” with coherent planning across boundaries,   we’ll have to do something about enlarging the tunnel vision of elected officials.