Tom to ask City Council allies to block lifting of ban on Ban-Tal dev’t projects

REP. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said he would urge allies in the Cebu City Council to oppose a plan to lift the moratorium on development projects along the Banilad-Talamban road.

The lifting of the moratorium would pave the way for the Cebu provincial government to move forward with its Cuidad development project.
However, he said he would not mind if Capitol would put up a cemetery in the Ciudad lot.

“If they want to make it into a cemetery, that is fine with me. There is money there and we are short of cemeteries,” he said.
“I will let them (councilors) make their own decision. But I will explain to them the issue,” said Osmeña.

Osmeña said he earlier agreed to the Cuidad development when he was still negotiating with Gwen to save the 5, 000 families who occupy 93-1 lots.
But Osmeña said he remains wary on how the proposed development would affect traffic along the Banilad-Talamban corridor.

Also, he is with the belief that developments should be spread in the neighboring barangays of Talamban, Pitos and Mabini. Besides, owners of commercial lots are the ones paying taxes to the city and not the provincial government.

“If we put a mall in area, that will restrict the flow of traffic up to the mountain barangay of Guba,” said Osmeña.

The Cebu City Council still is optimistic that Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) colleagues Osmeña and Rama will bury the hatchet.
“Speaking for the council, all of us are hopeful that they will be on good terms again,” said Young.

Although the clash between Rama and Osmeña has become serious these past few days, Young said he’s still sees a possibility for the two to reconcile.
“It breaks my heart, our hearts,” said Young, referring to Rama and Osmeña’s political conflict.

He said the two officials has a point but in a worst-case scenario the City Council might be divided in the 2013 elections.

“It’s still premature for us, (but) if the two do not agree, we will be divided,” Young said.

Rama, on the other hand, told his critic Osmeña to wait for 2013.

“Are they going against me? We will wait for them,” said Rama.