Mass transit for Cebu: BRT or LRT?

Last week, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Ernesto Pernia held the Philippine Economic Briefing in Cebu and joined the debate on whether Cebu should have the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) favored by Mayor Tomas Osmeña or the Light Rail Transit (LRT) proposed by the Chinese-Singaporean consortium to the tune of P155 billion.

With the BRT in peril, (there is a NEDA technical team meeting tomorrow to address this issue) Sec. Pernia asked the poignant question, “What do the Cebuanos want?” Let me answer that question. Cebuanos living outside Cebu City in Consolacion and Liloan in the North or those who live in Talisay City and Minglanilla in the South don’t care about the BRT, as it is a Cebu City Centric project. All Cebuanos favor the LRT as it starts from Carcar City in the South all the way to Danao City in the North.

As for the BRT, its gestation period just took too long (it began in 1998) with six wasted years during the Aquino regime when he put the project on hold. More importantly, the LRT is a people mover that passes through Metro Cebu and therefore could help reduce the traffic congestion plaguing Metro Cebu today. Above all, the DOTr cannot afford to have two huge ticket mass transit systems for Metro Cebu. Therefor it must choose the right one that benefits a greater majority of Cebuanos.

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My good friend, Mr. Ricardo “Rick” Ramos flew to Cebu last Thursday to accept my invitation to appear on my talk show Straight from the Sky (which is shown on SkyCable’s channel 53 and MyTV’s channel 30 and the PARASAT Channels in Northern Mindanao). Rick Ramos was the former chairman of Task Force Boracay for the Department of Tourism (DOT) during the time of Pres. Cory Aquino and involved in Infra Watch and a former columnist of Manila Times and a contributor to the Inquirer.

As far as the six-month closure of Boracay is concerned, Rick Ramos told me, “The six-month Boracay rehabilitation is doomed to fail as there is no Project director from the Office of the President to coordinate the program of work. The DPWH Region 6 director was talking of road right of way issues in Boracay when the Island is State-owned.” Also during the taped interview, which we showed last night, Rick Ramos questioned the anti-corruption group that Pres. Duterte created asking why hasn’t anyone in DPWH been fired or investigated for corruption when it is common knowledge that the DPWH is one of the most corrupt agencies in the government?

Indeed, this week is the date of reckoning for Boracay Island. We can only commiserate with those employees belonging to the hotels and resorts who would lose their jobs. This is not to mention that the small and medium scale businesses that service the hotel industry would also become big losers because they can’t supply those hotels and resorts for the next six months.

In short, the Duterte Administration has its work cut out for them. I mean what if six months from now, less than half of the rehabilitation of Boracay has not yet been done? What’s the administration’s plan “B?” As I pointed out in previous columns, the three-meter easement that many hotels and resorts violated in Boracay is actually happening all over the country. I showed Rick Ramos my drone shots of the Guadalupe River and Lahug Creek in Cebu City and he was shocked that settlers have taken over the three-meter easement. So it is time to right the wrongs that are happening not just in the island of Boracay, but also all over the nation.

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When I read in the news that the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, National Union of People’s Lawyers, Alternative Law Groups, Ateneo Human Rights Center, Free Legal Assistance Group, Manananggol Laban sa EJKs and the International Pro Bono Alliance filed a petition for the United Nations to intervene in our national or internal affairs because Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte issued statements which they felt were threats to lawyers or judges, I had to make a comment on this issue.

I have no doubt that the members of the organizations that I mentioned must have passed the Bar and therefore, as lawyers they are supposed to be mentally equipped to handle matters of legal importance. As lawyers, I’m totally surprised that they would petition the UN to intervene in our internal affairs. Smart lawyers should not be seen as “cry babies,” which they have apparently tagged themselves.

Have these lawyers even studied the UN Charter? Well, apparently they haven’t! It makes me wonder if these lawyer organizations also issued the same petition to the UN when then Pres. Benigno Aquino III also badmouthed the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom he eventually summarily removed? I don’t think so!

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