GMA OKs Cebu City's rapid bus system

Friday was a very busy day for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) who came to Cebu to address the 34th Kiwanis International Asia-Pacific Convention, then a visit to Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and a not-so-private visit to ailing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña who returned home last week for a two-week off from his chemotherapy sessions at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

The President’s message to the Kiwanis was simple: “I want you to include retrenched people by partnering with the government.” Through Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, the President knows that the Kiwanis International has a long history of civic projects. The President also handed out 125 scholarship vouchers to deserving students and gave some 500 indigent children a free meal when she stopped at the Cebu Caritas Inc.

While at the Caritas, the President also met with our beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal who reportedly asked for the lifting of the ban on Sulpicio Lines’ passenger vessels. She told the Cardinal flatly that she could not yet lift the ban as she has yet to be convinced that all the procedures to keep passengers safe are in place. I would like to believe that the President answered very correctly. After all, Sulpicio Lines cannot use the economic downturn as its excuse to return to passenger service. It must come up with concrete measures that would assure its future passengers that they would never become future victims of another Sulpicio Lines sea disaster.

Next stop was a 30-minute visit to the residence of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, whom she found in good spirits. That private meeting turned out to be somewhat historic in the sense that Mayor Osmeña proposed that the President support Cebu City’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which ultimately would also be a first in the country.

The BRT system is similar to the one we’ve written 12 years ago, called the Stairless Bus System of Curritiba, Brazil and also the Trans Millennio of Colombia, where the buses cannot stop in-between their elevated stops, just like what they have in the Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems. Thus they are less prone to disturbing surface traffic than what most buses do without this system. If and when this happens, Cebu City will be the first to adopt this system in Asia.

The President’s meeting with Mayor Osmeña resulted in the President’s calling DOTC Undersecretary Ann Lontoc to ask about the feasibility study for this project, which was already approved by the World Bank. Then she gave Mayor Osmeña her nod of approval for the project. I just hope that the release of the funding for this project would no longer hit bureaucratic snags.

A few months ago, when the President inspected the North Road Extension, from Mandaue to Liloan via Cansaga Bay, the President blew her top when she saw that the project wasn’t moving at all. This was reminiscent of her blowing her top at DPWH officials for their “snail’s paced” work on the Naga-Uling Road and once more she saw this happening in Cebu.

Methinks there’s some kind of conspiracy within the government bureaucracy that seems to no longer follow the orders of the President. I guess this is why rumors are now surfacing that there are some Cabinet secretaries who already feel “autonomous” because they believe that the President is already a lame duck and that pushing her pet projects would only endear her to the people.

As for his state of health, I met with Mayor Osmeña during the birthday dinner for Felix Gochan, a mutual friend, and he told me that he was responding very positively to the treatment. But he still needs to go back to the US for the operation, where his bladder would be removed and a new one fashioned from his intestines would be put in place. This is why he needs all the rest he can get during his two-week visit. With the BRT given the presidential nod, now Mayor Tom can have his very much needed rest.

The President was also with Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and I’m sure that Gov. Gwen briefed her on the surrender of two former rebels who had been on the run for 19 years. They’re Aurelio Botilla and his wife Emerlinda of Barangay Anapog, Catmon. Aurelio was a former section committee squad leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) who surrendered because he and his wife wanted to reform their lives. Indeed under the leadership of Gov. Gwen, the communist insurgency has become a footnote in Cebu’s peaceful history after the governor’s declaration to wage war on the reasons why communism has grown. On her return trip, the President also met at the airport 21 former rebels whom she gave P20,000 assistance.

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For e-mail 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, “Straight from the Sky,” every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.