Mega issues, not entertainment

We could use less dancing and vitriol, and more issues in the 45-day campaign period which has started with conventional forms of getting the voters attention.

After the first week, we’ve seen a lot of handshaking, hand waving and color-coordinated caravans of candidates, in groups and solo appearances. The initial salvos have been tactical, directed at big-smile promises or firing torpedoes at the opponent.

It’s time to lay down issues across the board.

The key questions to ask candidates seeking public support is: Where do you want to take us? How do we get there? And why should we follow you?

If you think of candidates as job applicants, which they all really are, the public would be asking to see resumes and action plans.

The voter is the boss, after all.

This is Cebu’s three-year future and beyond that we’re negotiating in the run-up to the May 13 election.

For this reason, we look forward to the Mega Cebu Candidates Fora being mounted on April 10, 19 and 25 in the Cebu Cultural Center of the UP Cebu campus by business chambers and various partners in civil society.

This stage will give candidates an opportunity to show their substance.

Sans handshake, dance and flaming rhetoric, they can have the floor in a neutral, balanced venue to answer the big question: What is your vision of growth for Cebu?

The organizers of the forum series, led by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. and joined by Cebu Daily News, are all committed to hearing what they have to say, to fine-tune what is spoken with questions from a multi-sectoral panel, and to share it with the widest possible audience through full media coverage including live blogging and Twitter.

Invitations have been sent to over 50 candidates in 13 localities from Danao City in the north to Naga City in the south, including cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.

The fora will present candidates for mayor, congressman, governor and vice governor.

Some have quickly confirmed, others are lukewarm or taking a wait-and-see attitude, perhaps finding it safer to wade into crowds who don’t put them on the spot.

Unlike other election season formats, the event is not a debate.

The aim is not to stage sabong, but to surface real issues that affect the lives of Cebuanos. To this equation, comes the candidate, bringing his or her persona, plans and track record.

There’s a rich bank of issues which candidates are asked to prepare for. Five themes deal with 1. poverty and jobs 2. traffic, infrastructure and urban planning 3. peace and order, and leadership 4. water and the environment. 5. tourism, culture and heritage, people and identity. (The fifth theme addresses the reality of economic enterprise and intangibles that speak of the soul and pride of Cebu.)

Any topic may be freely discussed by the candidate, and he or she could be asked about it.

Mega Cebu is a stretched concept of today’s Metro Cebu with less of its ills.

Why “mega”? The grandness is in the vision of a well-coordinated, well-planned territory of 13 urban and rural localities, where development rises above partisan politics to deliver the fullest potential for all who live and work in Cebu. In the process, the unique identity of each local government unit is respected.

That nirvana may look like a long way off, but the process has actually begun with a big nudge from Cebu’s can-do private sector.

With the candidates fora, we get a closer look at potential LGU leaders in the journey.

We hope they all show up.

Compared to the scorching summer of another outdoor schedule of handshaking, the only sunburn a candidate risks in this exercise is from the stage lights of a 1,000-seat auditorium.

The exposure is most valuable to voters, who seek the light of a substantial dialog.

First on stage on Wednesday, April 10, at 9 a.m. is the 1st district composed o f cities of Talisay, Carcar and Naga, and towns of Minglanilla and San Fernando. The forum moderator is CDN columnist Malou G. Apalisok

Abangan for more updates.