For Cebu City in three years
Officials mandated to serve Cebu City in the next three years have little more than a month to put their acts together and outline a general path for developing the locale.
It is worth repeating that this time, both the executive department under reelected Mayor Michael Rama and the Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan-dominated Cebu City Council should take special care to avoid the childish bickering that rendered them inutile in the last three years.
That the barangay elections will be held this October is no excuse for public servants to stay hooked on mindless partisanship.
The Rama administration conceived or intitiated several projects that were aborted or fizzled out as his term plodded, no small thanks to the political gymnastics in City Hall.
Cebu City officials need nothing short of a willingness to cross party lines to refocus on these projects. Here, we list some of them.
First is the improvement of the city’s waste management system. The “no (waste) segregation, no collection” policy began with so much fanfare but is no longer enforced. Mechanisms must be in place to ensure proper waste management in households, barangay materials recovery facilities and whichever will be final dump site of the city’s trash.
Second is the execution of a drainage master plan. Our officials cannot keep dragging their feet on building a proper sewage for the city amid the prevalence of flooding in times of hard rain.
Business establishments and squatters who sit on the banks of rivers, creeks like Mahiga and other waterways must be relocated and ordered to comply with the provisions of the Water Code. They are not entitled to clogging the waterways just because they can supply campaign funds and votes.
Congressmen-elect Raul del Mar of the north district and Rodrigo Abellanosa of the south must sit together with Mayor Rama on the question of disbursing their priority development assistance funds. Don’t just spend money left and right on infrastructure projects that will be compromised by floods and that the people do not need (read: flyovers).
Third is the development of the Cebu City Hospital, which should go hand in hand with improvements in barangay health centers.
After Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district backtracked on the plan to close the hospital, it should no longer be difficult for the Office of the Mayor and the City Council to increase funds for the hospital that in size alone is not sufficient to serve all the city’s indigent sick, especially during outbreaks of disease as our experience with dengue has shown.
Fourth is aesthetics. The city center’s main parks, Fuente Osmeña Rotuna and Plaza Independencia are wanting in landscaping, vegetation, and gardeners who work with regularity.
The pledge of the utility companies to remove and bury spaghetti wires must be overseen until fruition.
Councilor Margarita Osmeña’s ordinance to care for monuments needs to grow teeth.
We need more parks. Can a big one be established in the dry and dusty North Reclamation Area?
Do not prioritize beautifying the city; expect more foreign visitors creating videos about the dozens of things they hate about or writing articles that render Cebu City in ugly metaphors.
