NEDA-ICC cancels BRT project for Cebu

Here are some news regarding the much-awaited issue on whether the investment coordination committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-ICC) which held a crucial meeting yesterday at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to decide on the mass transit system for Cebu, either a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or Light Rail Transit (LRT). Simply put, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, chair of the NEDA-ICC said during the meeting that the committee’s “decision will be based on the DOTr recommendation.”

In the same meeting, DOTr Sec. Art Tugade, who earlier wrote to Sec. Dominguez told the committee that BRT might not be the appropriate holistic solution to Cebu’s traffic problem. But Sec. Tugade said this without oversimplifying the BRT or LRT; it does not mean that the DOTr is not addressing the transport and traffic situation in Cebu.

Hence the NEDA ICC chairman Dominguez ordered Sec. Tugade “to go down (to Cebu) to explain” about the cancellation of the project and to ensure that there is a more superior alternative. Earlier the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CCCI) issued a statement that they would support the BRT if there was a road-widening component. Unfortunately road widening is not included in the BRT project. So it looks like the BRT has been cancelled and Sec. Tugade would have to explain his stand to the Cebuanos within the week when he visits Cebu.

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Today and in the next six months, the fabled isle of Boracay, one of the country’s top tourist destinations, would be shut down for a much needed fixing of many violations on environmental laws and easement issues that many resorts and hotels have violated with impunity. I doff my hat to Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte for Boracay has become a beacon light of his political will, which no other President before him would have dared even to talk about, much less force its closure!

Now the big question is, is six months enough time to fix all the numerous problems that have plagued Boracay? We know for a fact that renovating a house takes more time than building a new one… and what is happening in Boracay is only a renovation. Furthermore, as we exhorted in previous columns, there should be a special task force to oversee what needs to be done in Boracay in the next six months so that they can apprise the President whether or not it can meet the six-month timetable.

Meanwhile, while the nation’s eyes are focused on Boracay, I dare say that it is high time for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to also focus on the many tourist destinations all over the country having similar issues like Boracay. A couple of weeks ago, the DENR in Cebu announced that they discovered a cesspool in Mactan. But in truth, the DENR already knew about this because we’ve already written about the problems of illegal settlers living on the shoreline of Mactan where the fecal coliform they throw into the sea gets eaten by the fishes and when those fishes are caught in a fisherman’s net, they end up getting sold in our fish markets!

As reported by Director William Cuñado of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), the fecal coliform in that area have reached 150 to 250 MPN in Mactan. Meanwhile in Oslob, South of Cebu Province, we laud the efforts of Mayor Jose Tumulak Jr. of Oslob for taking immediate action in cleaning their tourism sides of a lot of trash and closing these sites from April 10 to 16. While admitting that by closing the sites, affected their profits, but then it is designed to preserve and protect the tourist destinations that give them income. Let’s hope that the other municipal mayors in Cebu Province get into the same act.

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I was a bit disturbed when the government detained Patria Fox, the 71-year-old Australian nun until I saw that photo of her splashed in Facebook holding a placard in an anti-government rally. This Australian nun is practically a guest in our country and foreigners have no business participating in demonstrations or rallies. If she sought for a visa to enter the Philippines and marked on her application that she would join a demonstration, I’m sure she would be denied entry to the Philippines.

I’d like to point out to Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque that it was wrong for the government to apologize for her detention and eventual deportation. We also learned that she also came here in 2013 to join an anti-government protest in Hacienda Luisita. I dare say that the government did right, just like what they did to Giacomo Filibeck, the secretary of EU Socialists who was also deported!

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