Not so fast!

Everybody seems to be jumping up and down over the recent approval by the Cebu City Council of the application of an SM-Ayala consortium to develop a 25-hectare property at the city-owned SRP or South Road Properties. Leading the celebration is no less than Mayor Edgardo Labella who is beside himself enthusing about what tremendous benefits await the city.

I would be lying if I say I myself am not happy with the development. I am. But my happiness is tempered by grave reservations. I would have had little or no reservations if this development happened say, two or three decades ago. Then, Cebu would have been in its prime for real big-ticket projects, such as this one that has Labella all pumped and excited about.

Of particular glee to Labella is the prospect of what he says is the creation of at least two million jobs. Wow, two million jobs! Again, if this happened two to three decades ago, I too would be beside myself with glee. But two million new jobs right now in Cebu City looks pretty scary to me. If it means one new person for every new job, then that means two million more people in Cebu City.

Cebu City right now has a population of roughly a million. The province of Cebu has a population of roughly three million. All in all, the entire island of Cebu has roughly four million breathing, eating, drinking, bathing, and shitting souls all demanding space and services out of what I would presume are already very strained resources.

Now, the two million new jobs Labella is so excited about will not go to two million of the population. Population is one thing, workforce is another. The workforce makes up only a fraction of the population. At this point in time, Cebu enjoys a very high employment rate of roughly 95% of the work force or employable segment.

Conversely, the unemployment rate is roughly less than five percent. If five percent of the general Cebu island population of four million is only two hundred thousand, then five percent unemployed people out of the employable work force segment of the population is even less. But let us just say that two hundred thousand Cebuanos get two hundred thousand of the two million new jobs Labella is crowing about, that means 1.8 million jobs will go to outsiders.

Now, Labella is happy about that too. And who wouldn't? Helping our neighbors is a good thing. And I could not agree more. But it is not the helping our neighbors thing that worries the shit out of me. It is the thought that 1.8 million more people will be coming over to compete with the four million Cebuanos who are already here for the rapidly dwindling available space and resources that we have.

Right now there is already a water, garbage, and traffic crisis. Adding nearly two million people to the four million who are already here can only have catastrophic consequences. Unless, of course, Labella and all other Cebu officials have already figured out how to deal with those consequences. But then again, if they have not even solved the existing problems, I doubt very much if they can even come to grips with a horde of new ones.