Church group seeks ‘moratorium’ on flyovers

The Seventh Day Adventist Church yesterday called for a moratorium on flyover projects, especially on Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City, where they have an office.

“We are not taking sides on the issue. But before they implement the project, it should be well studied,” said Pastor Lemuel Derosil in a statement on behalf of the church’s 147,000 members in the Visayas.

“Since these flyovers constitute a significant investment of limited common resources in fund and space, it is only appropriate that we do not act in haste but rather carefully and cautiously consider the merits of the persistent outcry and endeavor,” said the statement.

Rep. Cutie del Mar of Cebu City’s north district yesterday said she spoke with an official of the Department of Public Works and Highways when she read in Cebu Daily News that the flyover would destroy part of the compound of the Asilo dela Milagrosa.

“I immediately discussed the matter with DPWH Cebu City District Engr. Nicomedes Leonor Jr. to do everything possible to make sure that nothing in Asilo Church and other buildings including their fence will be affected by construction of the flyover at the junction of Gorordo Avenue and Archbishop Reyes Avenue,” Del Mar told CDN.

The nuns who run the Asilo will begin a series of nine Saturday dawn rosary processions or “aurora” tomorrow to pray for “discernment” on what to do about the Gorordo flyover project, which they lamented will disrupt the “solemnity” of the place and destroy part of a garden grotto, parking lot and buildings with the 3.7-meter setback marked by the DPWH from their perimeter wall.