Development vision

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young are polar opposites not only in political affiliation but also in their development vision for the city.

While Rama took a 180-degree turn and pushed for the replacement of the two flyover projects with a transportation master plan, Young and the council sided with Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar in insisting that these projects continue.

The difference also extends to their vision of the Pasil fish market area, which faces a shoreline. Rama said he wants the site converted into a public park where children and churchgoers of the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Nicolas de Tolentino alike can relax and play.

Young said the P35 million would be better spent converting the old Pasil fish market building into a high school and a satellite college as well as build additional classrooms.

If one were to use school buildings like those in barangay Toong, where a contractor had to do a backjob on substandard work, along with other schools in Cebu City’s rural areas, then we may have a problem with Young’s vision.

These school buildings were built under Young’s watch as education consultant of the city government. Despite this, Young contends that the P35 million should be spent for building more classrooms and not for beautification, which he and the council may look down on as trivial.

Is the P35 million enough to build additional classrooms that won’t turn out to be substandard and thus require additional improvements from contractors?

One also remembers Young’s previous pitch to acquire vintage airplanes from the Department of Education (DepEd) in exchange for the city government building more classrooms and buildings.

Rather than spend more funds to build classrooms, shouldn’t the city government ensure first that the classrooms and buildings they already spent for be repaired and restored to good condition so it can be used by students?

The vice mayor, along with Del Mar, also think nothing of setting up flyovers in two junctions in Cebu City that the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board and the mayor warn will just worsen traffic and become eyesores in a historic city.

With the billions being spent by the city to pay for its loan in developing the South Road Properties, shouldn’t local officials allocate funds to make the city more livable?