The CA's mandate
Things are looking good for Cebu in terms of infrastructure projects - those being planned and those already in line. Over a week ago, for instance, was the groundbreaking of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX).
The FREEMAN recently reported that national and local officials are looking for funds to study the feasibility of building a coastal highway from Mandaue City to Cansaga in Consolacion. It's a good start, although I would say that this project is long overdue and should even stretch all the way to Danao City, if feasible.
The Cebu Provincial Development Council has also endorsed to the Regional Development Council Cordova's budget request for road developments that will complement the CCLEX. The wish list includes the widening of the Mactan Circumferential Road and opening of a coastal road from Cordova directly to the airport.
The stars have aligned so to speak for Metro Cebu to push forward its needed infrastructure within the next five years or so. For one we have former Cordova executive Adelino Sitoy within earshot of the president. And so far he has proven to have delivered.
Also, it seems after a long time Cebu has chosen chief executives who can be friendly with each other and can work together on common urban concerns. We have Governor Hilario Davide III in the province and Mayor Tomas Osmeña in Cebu City who are allies. We also have Mayor Luigi Quisumbing of Mandaue City, Congressman Jonas Cortes of the Sixth District, Mayor Eduardo Gullas of Talisay City, Congressmen Raul del Mar and Bebot Abellanosa of Cebu City, and Congressman Samsam Gullas of the First District.
Another positive development is the appointment of a young and well-respected business executive as co-chairman of the Regional Development Council-7, renowned industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue.
I hope this whole mix will be a synergy of visionary leadership, political wisdom, Cebuano enterprise, and selfless service that will bring good results for Cebu.
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Members of the powerful Commission on Appointments will meet tomorrow but are expected to neither approve nor reject the appointment of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez. That means Lopez' appointment will likely be bypassed along with three others including the two secretaries from the Left - Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano - and the president can still reappoint them to their post.
All three Duterte appointees, I think, are controversial for being too faithful to their mandate - Lopez for passionately carrying around a bullwhip on large-scale miners to keep them in line with our environmental laws; Taguiwalo for drawing the ire of some congressmen on budget accountability; and Mariano for preserving whatever is left of fertile farming areas from commercial and industrial intrusion.
That fidelity to their mandate cannot be said of many members of the Commission of Appointments. The CA was formed under the 1987 Philippine Constitution as a check on the power of the president to appoint people in certain key positions. According to that mandate, the CA's power "shall be discharged with impartiality, without partisan consideration and with only one impelling motive, which is the harmonious and efficient functioning of the government."
It would be naive to think politics and vested interests have nothing to do with the CA's evaluation of a key appointee's qualifications. That is exactly why it takes a strong or popular presidency to flex its muscles for its appointees while the public sees the CA as a compromised institution in the system of check and balance.
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