Kasambagan campaign against flyover projects hailed by mayor

Cebu City Mayor Micahel Rama said he is  not worried about revived efforts to push for more flyovers in the city.

He said the projects were  unpopular and that forcing  their  implementation may lose votes in  2013 for candidates behind it.

He praised  residents of barangay Kasambagan who came out to protest plans for a  flyover crossing  F. Cabahug Street and Pope John Paul Avenue.

Rama said the outcry was a sign that this kind of massive infrastructure is not welcome in the city.

“Forcing the flyover will mean qualified defeat on their side without having to wait for the election,” Rama  said.

The mayor said that  Cebuanos would be the better judge.

“The situation will now bring the people to action.  If we do not make a stand then the flyover projects will prevail.  We are a very compact city and hardly no road widening can be done without causing inconvenience.  How much more with  a flyover ?”

A heritage-rich and busy city like Cebu  does not need more flyovers, said Rama who favors road widening  and priority attention to coming up with a traffic master plan first.

Kasambagan residents and  business owners  along F. Cabahug Street already wrote President Benigno Aquino III, Roxas and north district Rep. Rachel del Mar about their opposition.

They said the money should be used for other priority projects like more roads, better drainage and a Metro Cebu Comprehensive Development Plan.

Instead of a flyover at the crossing of  F. Cabahug Street, one business owner said a flared intersection would be more suited..

The group which  has allied with the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC) said they will emphasize their opposition to their  barangay and City Hall.

Henrietta  Robins of Robins Home Depot said they will attend the next Cebu City Development Council meeting in December to express their sentiments.

Raul del Mar, former congressman and chief proponent, is also expected to attend.

He wants two flyovers, the  Kasambagan project and another one near the Maolo church, re-introduced  in the list of projects endorsed by the CCDC to the Regional Development Council.  The two were earlier scrapped from the list.

Del Mar is running for his old seat in congress in 2013 against Rama’s cousin,  Anabelle Rama, a celebrity talent manager.

But Mayor Rama said that del Mar will only be allowed  to speak in the CCDC if he agrees to include del Mar’s concerns in the council agenda.

As CCDC chairman, Rama said he decides what items to include.

Louella Alix of the MLC said that her group does not want to “politicize” the  discussion and that it’s best to  discuss the flyovers  based on its merits.

Rama, meanwhile, said the pronouncement of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas in his Cebu visit last week that the flyovers would definitely proceed was “uncalled for”.

He said Roxas is no longer Secretary of transportation and may not be aware of  results of the study by the Technical Working Group of the RDC in Central Visayas which which disapproved of flyovers  in the city.

“I thought he (Roxas) is already out of DOTC and he is now DILG Secretary?   Is it  part of his mandate as DILG Secretary to be looking at the matter on traffic and meddle with what belongs to the jurisdiction of DPWH?”

Asked if he plans to seek the help of newly appointed Secretary to the Cabinet Rene Almendras to bring the matter to President Aquino’s  attention, Mayor Rama said there was no need. /Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters