EDITORIAL - Bridge of progress, bridge of sighs

Last week, the country was titillated by stories about a new bridge that was soon to rise between Cebu and Mactan. Once completed, the third bridge to Mactan, called the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, to be built by Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp., will not only ease traffic between the two islands but will further spur their economic development.

There is no doubt that the new span will deliver on its promises. But what happened a few days after the groundbreaking of the project, in which no less than President Duterte was present, paints a future that is nothing less than ominous. What happened was that nine South Korean nationals were arrested in a crackdown on Internet-based sex tourism in Mactan.

This is not meant to denigrate the bridge project, especially since it has just barely scratched the surface in its timetable. But even now while access to Mactan is limited to existing means the sex trade in the island is already burgeoning, one can already project the same to really take off once the bridge is completed and ongoing improvements to the airport are finished.

It appears that criminal sex activities have descended on Mactan. The nine South Koreans arrested were lured to Mactan by a sex tour advertised and promoted on the Internet. They were arrested because they engaged in the services of trafficked women. But this was not the first time criminal sex activities have been associated with the island.

On several occasions already, the authorities have busted cybersex dens located in the municipality of Cordova, yes, the very same Cordova on the Mactan side of the proposed new bridge. Even more damning about these several cybersex busts is the fact that the cybersex is being operated by parents using their own children, indicating a breakdown in morals of some people in the area.

That the cybersex busts have not only happened once or twice but several times also indicates the lack of initiative by local authorities to know what is going on in their town. It is not enough that economic development is achieved, especially if it comes at the expense of the moral decay of a constituency. Progress must be balanced with social upliftment. Fail in that, and the bridge may stand, but everything else falls apart.