Cebu's infra development under GMA

Less than a week ago, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) was in Cebu for the blessing and inauguration of the first 72-MW unit of the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) dubbed the “Cleanergy” plant in Sangi, Toledo City which is a consortium of Aboitiz Power (AP), Metrobank and Formosa Heavy Industries (FHI) that helped eased the power problems in Cebu. Well, President Arroyo was back in Cebu for a series of meetings and later in the evening, we had a dinner by the beach at the fabulous Maribago BlueWater Resort with the Malacañang and Cebu press together.

I found myself seated between the President and Public Works and Highways Secretary Victor Domingo and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and we had a grand time talking about the infrastructure development on the island of Cebu. I told the President that in the congressional list of infrastructure projects, the national road along the Cebu coast has been asphalted so many times around. But in truth, it was only during the term of President Arroyo that finally, you can truly travel from Cebu City down 130 kilometers to Santander and drive up to Toledo City, then all the way to Bogo up north and back to Cebu City from the North Road via the newly opened Cansaga Bay Bridge that the President inaugurated this year.

In the old days, traveling along the national road in Cebu was great fun for us as we were using dirt bikes or off-road vehicles. Today, we already use street bikes. In fairness, Gov. Gwen Garcia also did her part, asphalting areas where the DPWH did not finish its job. So don’t blame Cebuanos if they still hold President Arroyo in high regard because as far as infrastructure development is concerned, she has done more for Cebu than all the other Presidents combined! This is an undeniable fact!

If at all, one of the biggest problems that we face in this sick country of ours is that there are just too many people opposed to the Office of the President and most of them are found in Metro Manila and I’m not referring only to President Arroyo. I do not recall a time when Manila was pro-administration since the time of Presidents Manuel L. Quezon and Ramon Magsaysay, who was the only President who was truly loved by the Filipino people. Unfortunately his term was cut short in the mountains of Mt. Manunggal on March 17, 1957 almost exactly 53 years ago.

Even former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada who won a whopping 39.86 percent majority of the votes cast and endeared himself to the Filipino people with his infamous “Walang kamag-anak, walang kaibigan” speech didn’t last too long when his corrupt ways got the best of him and like President Ferdinand Marcos, he, too, left Malacañang in a huff. I guess this is because too much power is concentrated in Metro Manila, where the conglomerates of big industries are located, including the national media outlets that more often than not, use their media power to promote their selfish ends.

Perhaps someday, things would change for this country and it has its beginnings with the creation of the Super Regions under the Arroyo administration. These Super Regions have their strengths in the tourism industry and the Cyber Corridor that has hired thousands of people in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Cebu is a clear example of this, having a great tourism industry and call centers. Soon, they will be power centers that could compete with Metro Manila.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to federalize the Philippine archipelago, which has given economic strength to our ASEAN neighbors, notably Malaysia and Indonesia, which is a bigger archipelago than the Philippines. But then this means Charter change (Cha-cha) which has been denounced in Metro Manila but is very acceptable to provinces outside the nation’s capital. Let me say it here that among the top four presidentiables running in the elections, only former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. has such a plan for changing the Charter… this is why many of our youth, especially the young students, want Gibo to win the presidency in the May 2010 elections as he truly brings hope for a better future for our nation.

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I attended the two-day National Summit of the National Episcopal Commission on Family Life and Human Life International at the Citi Park Hotel last March 8-9 on the theme “Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we will: Philippines for Life Forever.” This was a nationwide summit for pro-lifers, who were in the forefront against the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

While the RH Bill has already been shelved when Congress ran out of material time to approve it, and therefore the pro-lifers can claim it their victory. However, the pro-lifers believe the RH Bill will resurrect in the next Congress. During their forum, the pro-lifers said a prayer for Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, asking God to enlighten her to stop giving away condoms because the use of condoms never stopped AIDS or pregnancies.

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