Council wants skywalks turned over to city gov’t

The Cebu City Council wants to know what happened to its request to the Department of Public Works and Highways to turn over the skywalks in the city to the city government so these will be better maintained.

During its recent session, Vice Mayor Michael Rama also wanted to call the attention of the department on the complaints against dirty skywalks in the city.  Specifically, he mentioned the skywalks near Robinson’s Mall and the Fuente Osmeña rotunda.

“We already asked the DPWH to turn over the skywalks to the city government but all the skywalks are not yet turned over to the city until now,” Rama said.

Rama, who also sits as the chairman of the council, asked Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias to follow up on the request for the turn over and bring to the DPWH the observations of councilor Arsenio Pacaña about the dirty skywalks in the city.

Last Wednesday, members of the council noted the report from the DPWH on what it has done to clear the skywalks in the city of filth, vagrants and beggars.

The city has received a lot of complaints on dirty and unused skywalks, especially the two skywalks near Fuente Osmeña.  Aside from beggars, who position themselves near the top of the stairs, making it difficult for pedestrians to pass, homeless families and minors often sleep in these skywalks.

The Osmeña Boulevard skywalks have also become the area for pickpockets, con artists and other criminals, especially at night.

With this, Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier asked the DPWH to remove the roofs of the skywalks in the city, starting with the ones at the Robinson’s Mall, crossing Gen. Maxilom Avenue.

The proposal first came from the City Traffic Operations Management, who suggested to remove the roofs of all the skywalks in the city to discourage vagrants and mendicants from making these their homes.  — Wenna A. Berondo/BRP