Meeting a transport visionary in Cebu

Last Monday, the city of Cebu hosted the very famous multi-awarded former mayor (1998-2001) of the city of Bogotá, Colombia in the person of Enrique Peñalosa who was awarded the National Simon Bolivar Prize for Journalism, the Eisenhower Fellowship and in 1986 was awarded as one of the Best Young Colombian Leaders by the Camara Junior. Yes under his watch as mayor of Colombia, this feisty reformist instituted a “Car-Free” Day in the year 2000. He built more than a hundred nurseries for children under 5 years old, reconstructed more than 300 kilometers of bicycle paths, sidewalks and parks and changed the city of Bogotá in just one term!

He came to Cebu upon the invitation of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña so Cebuanos could learn from him on how he put the TransMillenio bus rapid transit system in Bogotá, Colombia, a city of 8.5 million people. Mayor Peñalosa told us that we need reforms in urban planning, “Urban transport is a political and not a technical issue. The technical aspects are very simple. The difficult decisions relate to who is going to benefit from the models adopted.” He added, “Do we dare create a transport system giving priority to the needs of the poor? Or are we really trying to solve the traffic jams of the upper income people? That is really the true issue that exist.”

Mayor Peñalosa believes that the government should build more parks and sidewalks for the majority of the people who have no cars. He said, “The importance of pedestrian public spaces cannot be measured, but most other important things in life cannot be measured either; Friendship, beauty, love and loyalty are examples. Parks and other pedestrian places are essential to a city’s happiness. He also stated, “For the poor, the only alternative to television for their leisure time is the public space. For this reason, high-quality public pedestrian space and parks in particular, are evidence of a true democracy at work.”

No doubt Cebu had a mass transit visionary within our midst that showed us what we could do for Cebu that has now been duplicated in many cities in Colombia. We can only hope that our political leaders would have the political will to implement a bus rapid transit system in our lifetime.

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Last weekend, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña came back home for a short 3-day visit. A couple of weeks ago in the US, Mayor Osmeña had his cancerous bladder removed in Boston, however he still needs to go back for chemotherapy sessions due to cancer in the lymph nodes at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, which will take two months.

This is why last Saturday afternoon; he asked all his friends and supporters to go to the Cebu Coliseum for his State of the City Address (SOCA). Call it timely that he did his SOCA after the sale of certain lots in the South Road Properties (SRP) and after his operation so he could report on the state of Cebu City’s financial health and the state of his own health.

The Cebu Coliseum was filled to the brim with the supporters of Mayor Osmeña’s political party the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) coming from the different barangays in Cebu City. Inside the Cebu Coliseum, it had an atmosphere of a political rally or a “miting de avance” complete with placards and banners and lots of drummers. But in reality, it was more than just a political show of force and let me say it here quite frankly that it wasn’t eve really a full-blown State of the City Address that we heard in the past because Mayor Tom didn’t really give a detailed report of the financial health of Cebu City.

But the mayor did report on the successful sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) to Filinvest Land, Inc. where at P15,000 per square meter, it was a very good deal and proves that the SRP is a great sales success as it can sell by itself, while giving the city of Cebu huge assets. With more interested investors wanting to invest in the SRP, it is only a matter of time when the SRP will pay off the loans of Cebu City and give her new assets. 

If any, I would like to believe that the supporters of Mayor Osmeña didn’t go to the Cebu Coliseum to hear about the financial health of Cebu City… rather they went there to see for themselves their beloved mayor after his bladder operation. While his supporters saw a healthy-looking mayor who didn’t look sick at all, after all, looks can be deceiving. But early in his speech, he talked openly about his cancer.

As I said it wasn’t really a full-blown SOCA because after his speech, Mrs. Margot Osmeña went on stage to thank Cebuanos for their support and prayers. That never happens in the regular SOCA. In short, what we saw at the Cebu Coliseum was a grand thanksgiving affair by the BO-PK, thanking Cebuanos for their love, support and prayers during this period of crisis.

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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 8:00 in the evening.