No need to sell Mactan airport

I am very happy with the active participation of the Cebu Development Council (CDC) especially  the consultation done last Friday. I’ve heard the lamentations of some CDC members before, especially from the non-government organizatinos (NGOs), about how they were  made to sign a CDC plan  where they  had no participation at all. Last week, the CDC in a consultation meeting rejected proposals for two flyover  from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The CDC instead proposed that the budget of the proposed flyovers be realigned for drainage projects  needed by the city where many low lying areas  easily get flooded during a  heavy rain. The  P430 million budget for the flyovers would be better be used for a  drainage master plan and drainage projects that would save lives and avert  damage to properties. This would  serve more people than the flyovers being contemplated.

Surprisingly, no objections were raised in the CDC consultative meeting to  the proposal to delete the flyover projects.  None came from  participants from 61 barangays and member NGOs. The vote was indeed overwhelming for  deletion of flyovers as the CDC  deemed them not a priority today compared to drainage especially with the start of the  rainy season.

It’s  about time that people assert their rights  and for  government officials to listen to the people.

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The Mactan-Cebu  international airport is not for sale. It shouldn’t be. If there’s some problem, for example lack of space,  it can be addressed through rehabilitation or expansion.

PLDT chairman Manny Pangilinan suggested privatizing the airport in a conversation last May with Gov.  Gwen Garcia in Manila.

Asked recently about the meeting by editors  this week, Pangilinan repeated his  suggestion  to private the Mactan airport. To this,  Garcia said she welcomes a partnership with the private sector for the expansion of the airport but not privaltization or selling it to a private entity.

The Mactan airport isn’t fully utilized yet. There’s  room for expansion and rehabilitation  to  really make it world-class. I don’t think we can afford  to sell the airport property and transfer operations to another place like Cordova town which would be too  expensive for the government.

What may be done is to improve present  facilities and make it more accessible to commuters and the public.

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It is  unreasonable for Cebu City Vice Mayor Joy Young to demand for the resignation of Education Secretary Armin Luistro just because of delayed release of five months  honoraria for Cebu City public school teachers.

No question the delay is a valid concern of the teachers but asking Luistro to resign is too much. We must bear in mind that Luistro has many problems to attend to especially the new K to 12 educational reform program.

Luistro has to prioritize m are utmost important and I think the pay is being attended to but there is some delay that is always happening in our government. I think Young should instead communicate to Luistro to remind him of the delay in the pay of the teachers.

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I think it’s proper for the Cebu city government to provide free school supplies to public school students.  This is a big help for  their parents.

It is also good for the city to buy school buses to ferry  students from their homes to  school and back because this too would help  parents and children save money for more important things.

These projects were done in the previous administration but now that the present administration is doing it, the idea is made to sound like a bad one.

Helping our school children should go beyond political colors.