Keeping Cebu’s convention center
I am happy with the decision of Acting Cebu Gov. Agnes Magpale not to sell the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) but instead have it renovated in preparation for hosting international events.
It was change of heart for Magpale after she discovered that CICC has become a liability because it has incurred more expenditures instead of earning for the past few years.
This prompted many suggestions like Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes’s idea of buying the CICC to convert it into the new city hall. The funny suggestion came from Congressman Tommy Osmeña who proposed to convert the center into a funeral parlor to spite its author suspended Governor Gwen Garcia.
We must remember that the Province of Cebu spent about P800 million to erect the controversial building. To give it up would be a waste. The latest decision of the acting governor is a better one because now we could make use the CICC and hopefully have it managed it properly so that in the future the Province of Cebu will earn from it.
* * *
I do not know what the national government is doing about the massive military operation being conducted by the Malaysian government against the Filipino Muslim followers of the Sultanate of Sulu in Sabah aside from sending an emissary to negotiate with the Malaysian government.
So far about 70 Filipino Muslims members of the royal army of the Sultanate of Sulu that have been killed by the Malaysian police in Sabah. That for me should prompt the President himself to call the Malaysian Prime Minister to personally ask him for ceasefire that will allow the Philippine government to try its very best to bring home the Filipino Muslims.
If the President can call the leaders of a Middle Eastern country to plead for pardon on behalf of Filipino convict on death row I can not see any reason the president should not call the Prime Minister of Malaysia to plead the case of the Filipinos in Sabah.
I am hoping that the president will finally work to spare Filipinos in Sabah from from the violence. The president can not allow the hundreds of Muslim Filipinos in Sabah to be massacred. After all they are our brothers and sisters and their claim is legitimate and needs to be resolved with finality.
* * *
Acting Governor Magpale should make clear her position about the checks deposited at the Capitol coming from the pork barrel fund of Congressmen Pablo Garcia and Pablo John Garcia for their respective districts.
Apparently the Capitol is given the authority to manage and supervise the pork barrel funds of the congressmen. That means that the Capitol is holding these funds in trust.
It is best to release the funds to the intended beneficiaries because they need it and the money would go a long way to helping the municipalities. The provincial government should immediately check the status of the pork barrel for the town of Dumanjug if it is true that it got about P55 million from the pork barrel of Congressman Pablo Garcia.
Mayor Nelson Garcia asserted that it was not for Dumanjug alone but for the other towns in the second district and it just happened that the his town is the depository in order to facilitate the distribution of the pork barrel.
I am confident knowing Magpale that this issue will be resolved soonest and the beneficiaries of the pork barrel fund will receive the funds as it is intended.
