A bridge linking the islands of Cebu and Bohol?

I had a long talk with favorite former President Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) at the Cebu Country Club (CCC) last Friday after he played a round of golf with former DOTC Secretary Sonny Garcia and friends and he told me that he was reviving the old plan by then Cebu governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña to connect a water pipe between Inabanga, Bohol and Metro Cebu.

That proposal was a hot topic in Cebu more than 15 years ago wherein a US company Brown & Root would connect a floating pipeline across the Bohol Strait into Metro Cebu from the town of Inabanga where the Inabanga River virtually throws millions of liters of fresh water into the sea. But this project never left the talking stage, simply because of the selfish interests of the politicians that rule Bohol at that time.

Those politicians said, “We would only allow this project to happen if the water taken from the Inabanga River would first be piped into Tagbilaran.” With so much water around the island of Bohol, it would be downright foolhardy for a water pipeline to be linked to Tagbilaran because it’s just too far from Inabanga and therefore not cost effective. Cebu is actually closer to Inabanga than Tagbilaran. No doubt the Boholanos weren’t prepared to pay for expensive piped water because they can just dig a hole on the ground and find water anywhere. That is why this project never left the ground.

But in truth, not many people know that the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) did come up with another proposal three years ago a better project at that because it would not only bring water to Cebu from Bohol, it would also line power lines between the two islands and best of all, bring them closer together. Yes, I’m referring to the Cebu-Bohol Interconnection where land bridges would link the numerous small islands between Jetafe and Mactan Island just like in Key West, Florida. This is now under a feasibility study by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

Then we shifted to the topic of the 2010 elections. FVR apparently said that the next President of the Philippines should be an “Engineer” which sent us scratching our heads, who are the Engineers in the Presidentiable line up? FVR said, “The fellow we should chose should be a “Bayani” or a hero!” Opps, did he just give us a hint that we should rally behind Bayani Fernando as the next President of the Philippines? The problem with this statement is, FVR hasn’t yet officially endorsed Bayani Fernando… and if you closely examined the two words he mentioned, FVR is an Engineer and there is no denying that in EDSA One, he was one of the heroes or “Bayani” in Tagalog. So are we going to see an 80-year-old FVR run again in 2010? Well, why not? Let’s should wait if 71-year-old John McCain wins the US elections.

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Call it an uncanny coincidence that because of the controversial Reproductive Health Bill No. 4110 and the call by the Archbishop of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal for all parishes to oppose the RH bill, we wrote that article last Sept. 10 entitled, “No Teaching Catholicism in Catholic Schools?” at the exact time when the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) was having the 2008 CEAP National Convention from Sept. 11-13 at the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao City. CEAP has 1,240 Catholic universities, schools and colleges as its members.

I only learned of this happening after I got numerous comments about that article when someone pointed me to the website of CEAP in order to get more information about that convention, whose theme was, “Growing Into Soul: Inner Space, Sacred Place in Catholic Education.” I also learned that my good friend, Fr. Roderick Salazar was still the CEAP president. All the time I thought he was no longer its president. I got confused with that info as Fr. Rod is no longer the president of the University of San Carlos (USC).

In their website, I looked at their programme and found one very relevant topic entitled. “Reality Check: Where is Catholic Education? An International Situationer by Fr. Sala­zar SVD. Unfortunately, there were no discussion points in the website and I have no idea what went on during that convention. But a friend of mine texted me that there was a nun who xeroxed our column on this issue and gave it to some of the delegates. I just hope that our column touched these people, who are tasked to teach the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, especially at this time when Catholics are called upon to rally behind the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Last Sunday during our Press Freedom celebration, Rep. Raul del Mar told me that he would be one of those who would interpolators when the proposed bill was taken to the floor last Monday. I will have to get back to him on what really transpired during the Congressional debates.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.philstar.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, “Straight from the Sky” shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8 in the evening.