Cebu plus factors: A new airport and a new port

I don’t know why it has taken so long for the critics of President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte to move forward from this kissing issue in Seoul, South Korea, last Wednesday. Anyway, he apologized to actress Kris Aquino who had a spat with Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson for showing a photo of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino being kissed by two women on the plane just before he was assassinated at the Manila International Airport.

Actually, in my book, Mocha did the right thing by putting up that photo simply because it was the truth! I did not find her producing that piece as disrespectful. In fact, I only knew of that kiss with the late Ninoy very much later after Cory became president. But then, knowing the trait of President Duterte, he apologized to Kris Aquino on behalf of Mocha in order to end this ugly affair. But honestly, if the yellows didn’t make a big fuss out of Duterte kissing that OFW, I don’t think that Mocha would have brought the Ninoy kiss out to the public.

Honestly now, I believe that President Duterte should have refrained himself from kissing the woman who admitted she was married. However after seeing footage of that scenario, it was not a huge kiss, rather a split-second peck! Presidential Assistant Bong Go perhaps said the right thing that both Duterte and Aquino are popular and well-loved leaders, which is why women get attracted to them. Go obviously knows the popularity of these two leaders.

On the other hand, since I’m already mentioning this issue, we have Kris Aquino who has literally exited from her showbiz career and knowing how showbiz people operate, whenever there is an issue for them to open their mouths, they jump at it so quickly. This is exactly what Kris Aquino did when Mocha Uson published that photo of Ninoy being kissed. It was a way for Kris Aquino to be in the limelight once more and this is why she grabbed the opportunity to hit Mocha Uson. But the apology of President Duterte has all but stopped this issue from going on.

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A couple of days ago, there was a report that South Korea extended a $172.64 million loan agreement to the Philippines for the construction of the Cebu International Container Port, according to the Department of Finance. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, on behalf of the Philippine government, and Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) President and Chairman Sung-Soo Eun signed the loan agreement, with President Duterte and South Korea President Moon Jae-in as witnesses. I understand that this new International Container Port is going to be located in a 25-hectare reclaimed land in the town of Consolacion. If my memory serves me right, this was the proposal given by then Cebu Port Authority general manager Jake Marquez, which was later forgotten. According to the DOF, the Cebu International Container Port project aims to provide an efficient transport infrastructure for the flow of goods in the Visayas region.

According to the report, the new CICP project has a total project cost of P10.1 billion, according to the DOF. Of the amount, KEXIM will cover $172.64 million (about P8.8 billion) through the loan assistance, which carries an interest rate of 0.15 percent per annum for non-consulting services and zero percent for consulting services. The loan has a maturity period of 40 years inclusive of a 10-year grace period. The Philippines, for its part, will provide a counterpart fund of $26.09 million (about P1.4 billion or 28.9 billion Korean Won) for the project.

The CICP will include a berthing facility that can simultaneously accommodate two 2,000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit vessels; operating facilities and structures for containers such as a freight station and an inspection shed, an access road and bridge, and a dredged waterway and turning basin. I remember clearly that one of the arguments pushed by Marquez was that this new port facility can reduce ship travel time from Cebu to Manila by at least three hours. These are plus factors for Cebu. We just blessed the new Terminal 2 yesterday and soon we will have a new international container port. Thanks, Duterte!

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