Would Mayor Osmeña block the Capitol building?

I just spent my whole morning at the Pacific Mall beside the Mandaue Highway to be at the office of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to have my passport renewed. Mind you, I’m not complaining about the services of the people working in the DFA, where their security guards from Lantin Services are very courteous. My only complaint is that the DFA did not anticipate that by the time the DFA moved their office to the Pacific Mall a long time ago, the population of the Philippines would reach over a hundred million.

These days, times have really changed. More Filipinos are getting passports to go on an international vacation, more so that so many airline companies are offering very affordable promos to neighboring ASEAN countries where flights are very affordable. It’s unlike years ago when the only Filipinos trying to secure passports were the Overseas Filipino Workers seeking jobs in the Middle East. Yesterday gave me an idea of how fast the DFA personnel got my requirements and had them encoded. What took a long time was the long lines that we had to endure.

From the basement parking lot, the DFA office was a long walk inside the Pacific Mall, which is quite inconvenient for senior citizens like me. Perhaps the time has come for the DFA to establish a satellite office like what the SSS has done; have a satellite office at the Galleria Mall, which is very convenient for folks like me. Thankfully the new passports have a 10-year validity, which means your next renewal would be 10 years later! Yes, the latest announcement from the DFA Secretary Teddyboy Locsin was that birth certificates are no longer required for those seeking passport renewal, and since I was having my passport renewed I benefited from this new rule. How I wish that DFA Secretary Locsin visited the DFA offices in Mandaue.

*  *  *

Did I read it correctly that Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III has withdrawn his request for authority from the Provincial Board to enter into a contract with the winning bidder for the P1.3-billion resource center? Apparently, the governor said: “I am thus withdrawing the request for SP (Sangguniang Panlalawigan) authorization. Consequently, it is my respectful submission that there is no need on the part of the Honorable Presiding Officer (Magpale) to rule upon the resolution that was laid on the table.”

Governor Davide explained that there is no need for him to seek authority from the PB because the P1.3-billion project was already identified and specified “with sufficient detail” under an approved appropriation ordinance in June 2018. Apparently, a supplemental budget of P1.9 billion was enacted and carried unanimously. What we can clearly see from his actions is that, first, he asked the Provincial Board for an approval of his 20-story building, but this was denied, so now suddenly he found another way to get this building approved simply because it is an election year and that building’s real purpose is for Davide to get himself a piece of the action.

At this point let me say that a 20-story building within the Capitol grounds is unnecessary simply because the building is just too tall. Secondly, a building that big means traffic would worsen in already traffic-crazy Escario Street. Mind you, this reminds me of the Ciudad Project of my good friend, Mike Dino, that Mayor Tomas Osmeña blocked using the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management since it would worsen traffic in the Banilad Road.

The same issue is very much present in this 20-story project and it just surprises me that Mayor Osmeña has not blocked this project for the very same reasons that he successfully blocked the Ciudad Project. Of course back then, this project was approved by then governor Gwen F. Garcia and the difference today is that Davide is an Osmeña lackey! So everything is politics for our political leaders and hell if their project worsens traffic and ordinary Cebuanos like you and me would suffer greatly in traffic-prone Escario Street.

*  *  *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.