Balamban town, capital of Cebu Province

I have just seen a Facebook post that featured the leveling of a mountain reportedly located in Barangay Cambuhawe, Balamban town, a first class municipality west of the island, in order to pave the way for the construction of a kind of a new Cebu provincial capitol complex Cebuanos will, supposedly, be proud of. The breathtaking FB photos that were taken by Wiley Yray, revealed a deforested landscape where a portion of a mountain no longer featured trees but a clearer site ready for civil construction. The lush green forest now carried in its bosom acres of yellowish flatland where even the perennial grass never had a chance to survive. I initially thought that two mountains were flattened to form one sprawling complex and the result, nay consequences, would have been enormous. Mea culpa for the wrong initial perception.

As reports poured on, it looked like Provincial Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia is pushing through with the plans to transfer the Cebu Province seat of government power to a 50-hectare property in Balamban, with the Executive Building itself occupying 2.3 hectares although there will also be legislative building with an estimated expenditure of approximately P700 million. It must be to the credit of the persuasive character of the governor that she has reportedly received commitments of support from Senators Sonny Angara and Francis Tolentino. Angara pledged to provide P100 million for the construction of the edifice while Tolentino will be granting the Capitol P80 million to develop connecting roads.

I do remember that Gov. Garcia caused the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) as a 3-story structure built for the 12th Asean Summit and 2nd East Asia Summit at a reported cost of about $10 million. When it was completed sometime in 2006, it had a gross floor area of 28,000 square meters and is situated on 3.8 hectares of land at the Mandaue City. From these data, we can say that the estimated outlay for the new capitol building in Balamban is somehow cheaper than the CICC. But, let me ask what is now the condition of the CICC?

There is however a word in the reportage that the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) is targeting to complete site development for the replica of the Capitol building within this year. This word is replica. In my understanding, replica means a copy, duplicate, facsimile or reproduction. A replica also means a thing made to closely resemble another. I wonder a bit with this replica thing because I have read somewhere that the provincial administration plans to convert the existing Capitol building, a National Historical Landmark, in Escario Street, uptown Cebu City into a museum. Is it a sound idea to have a new capitol building, in Balamban that looks like the museum located in Cebu City or a museum that can be mistaken as the provincial Capitol.

Also contained in the reports are the reasons for the construction of the new capitol. That alleviating the traffic congestion in Cebu City and improving convenience for the residents of the province are highlighted invited some attention. An FB comment few days ago read: “Several netizens have expressed concerns about how this development could lead to devastating environmental consequences, claiming that it may result in increased flooding in the downhill areas” while another post “pointed out accessibility issues, suggesting that moving the capitol to Balamban could make it less accessible for the people of Cebu province. These issues are understandable and so these have to be carefully considered by the governor.