Stop flyovers? There's more to loving Cebu

For our special presentation on on Straight from the Sky tonight, we bring you an American born in the Philippines, but their family left for the US when Martial Law was declared. He is no other than Mr. Louis Jurika, who grew up here in Cebu City in the early 50s and 60s. While his parents are both Americans, they were both born in Zamboanga City and eventually settled in Cebu after World War II.

This is the second time I had Louis Jurika as guest on my show. The last time he appeared here was some three years ago when he brought with him Mr. Jim Zobel, no he does not belong to the Zobel family in Manila. He is an American who is the archivist of the Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia and yes, we talked about World War II. So Louis Jurika is back because of an invitation for him to speak in Manila about history, which he would also share with us on this show tonight. So please watch this very interesting show of an old Cebuano hand on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm.

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When Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo was in town last week to speak at the 1st Cebu NGO Summit at the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADS), he told his audience to respect the stand or decision of the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) regarding the flyovers. If you haven’t notice, if there is anything that’s happening in this country today, it is sheer lack of respect. Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III has only shown an utter disrespect for the Supreme Court, a co-equal body with the Legislative and Executive.

In a democracy, the rule of the majority should prevail … but alas, even if the majority in the RDC has already ruled about the flyovers, the minority continues to harp on this, barking like a sick dog. I have already said it here many times before that the flyovers are just one of the many issues and problems that continues to hound our beloved Cebu City. Those who spent money to come up with those “Stop Flyovers” signs never showed any cares for the other problems that plague Cebu City. Which only proves my point that except for a few, many of those against the flyovers are people whose businesses would be affected by the flyovers.

Just last Thursday I was totally surprised that traffic along Escario St. from Capitol to Gorordo was snarled. I later found out that this was due to a digging by MCWD, which occupied more than a lane and a half of Escario St. across the barangay hall. I have no problem with MCWD diggings except that this one had no working crew doing the job. If you ask me, these are people who disturb our streets and cause traffic jams. So when MCWD gets a permit to dig, they should consider this as an emergency and fix what ever is wrong with their pipes as fast as they can. But unfortunately, no one in this country is in a hurry.

But as I’ve pointed out many times before, 50 yards before the corner of Escario St. along Juana Osmeña St. is a road that has been fixed more than four times already because the DEPW apparently places the asphalt without fixing the water leak under the road. Again we only hear a deafening silence from those who profess to “Love Cebu City.” But fixing the road is not stopping the flyovers … so they don’t really care.

Come now, who doesn’t want Cebu to be a Livable City huh? But at least, I go out of my way to help out when others only show their apathy. A case in point is Gorordo Ave. Surely you must have noticed that from the corner of Escario St. when you pass by the University of the Philippines (UP) campus you will see a very wide four-lane road, complete with sidewalks. Continue driving a hundred yards ahead and when you reach the Doña Modesta Gaisano St. corner that leads to Beverly Hills, Gorordo Ave. becomes a very narrow road with no sidewalks.

Do you know why this is so? That’s because of sheer apathy from Cebuanos who are supposed to show their love for Cebu City. Even those people who profess their love of Cebu City do not even know about this because it is more than obvious to me that they just don’t care. Flyovers yes, but for the rest of Cebu City… it’s the bahala na attitude!

Mind you, the same is true along M. J. Cuenco Ave. as you reach the entrance of Hippodromo or D. Jakosalem St. at the corner of Mango Ave. I dare you to go to Bacolod City and you will immediately notice that their roads are not just cemented, they are in equal widths. Again I’d like to point out that if we want Cebu to be the livable city we want to live in, then everyone is duty bound to help us fix whatever is wrong with our beloved City of Cebu. So for starters, let’s ask the DPWH to fix the entire width of the Gorordo Ave. using the road section in UP as the parameter for this road.

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