Duterte to open Mandaue City’s new government center

CEBU, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to be the guest of honor for the groundbreaking ceremony of the new government center in Mandaue City on August 30 in time for its 49th Charter Day celebration.

City Councilor Carmelino Del Mar Jr. said that initially, it was Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Bong Go who was scheduled to attend the event.

“Instead of SAP Bong Go, President Duterte is coming,” Del Mar said, adding that they have yet to finalize the matter with Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing.

The new government center worth P1.5 billion is said to be an environment-friendly building that will house various local government offices including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Internal Revenue and National Bureau of Investigation.

Quisumbing’s State of the City Address (SOCA) will be moved to August 29 instead of August 30.  It will be done inside the Session Hall at 9 a.m.

On the other hand, vendors are expected to start occupying the new public market building of Mandaue City next month.

The new market, situated at the back of the National Shrine of St. Joseph, can accommodate up to 1,200 stalls.

“We are about 92 percent complete, gamay nalang gyud ang kuwang so we are targeting a phase transfer of the market by early September. We were actually supposed to begin the process of doing it late this month,” Quisumbing told reporters.

The mayor explained further that they are intentionally delaying it in order to give way for the month-long events in line with the city government’s 49th Charter Day celebration that will end on August 30.

“Since we have several major activities lined up this month for the Charter Day, we decided to postpone it to September to minimize any sort of inconvenience by having to start the phase transfer by late August,” he said.

Around 1,600 vendors were recorded in the city. Of the given figure, Quisumbing has earlier noted that at least 1,200 are qualified and legitimate vendors, while 400 are reportedly displaced due to issues on their leasing rights.

In order to help other displaced vendors, Quisumbing said they consider setting up a night market but this idea has yet to be realized.

“We’re considering for a night market but we have no list of who will be prioritized at this time. Since right now, we are taking a look for a potential site first to put up to a possible night market,” he said.

The completion of the new market building reportedly got delayed last year after contractors found out that the soil was weak and not feasible enough to hold its foundation. Its construction continued early this year.

The site of the new market building is the same location where the old public market used to stand but was abandoned after a fire.

Vendors relocated to a temporary public market beside the City Sports and Cultural Complex.

The temporary public market, however, was declared unfit for occupancy after it got damaged by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2013, which resulted in the death of one vendor. (FREEMAN)