Look at our future by looking at the past!

For our special guest on our talkshow, Straight from the Sky, we bring you the head of one of the most controversial agencies of the Philippine government, the Bureau of Customs... Atty. Lourdes Villamar Mangaoang, district collector of Customs in Region 7. We've tried to invite customs officers to this show in the past, but no one cared to accept our invitation. It had to take a woman to boldly accept to be the guest of our show.

Customs district collector Mangaoang has been pilloried in the press a week ago and we are giving her an opportunity to speak out on those accusations. She also gives us a background of what's going on in the Bureau of Customs today. So watch her tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m.

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When I read the story that both Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Mayor Teddy Ouano rejected the call of Governor Gwen Garcia for the building of a 3rd bridge to Mactan, because of various reasons... mostly because we cannot afford it, it brought me back to the days when Tommy's father, the late Sen. Sergio "Serging" Osmeña, Jr. suggested that a bridge be built between mainland Cebu and Mactan island.

Back then, Serging already caused the transfer of the operations of Philippine Airlines (PAL) from the old Lahug airport to the unused Mactan Airbase, which to many passengers was a huge inconvenience because the planes PAL used then had no difficulty flying in and out of the old Lahug airport.

In those days, traffic to Mactan was for the passengers of PAL wishing to fly in or out of Cebu. Mactan really had nothing much to offer as it was a rocky and desolate place. Nobody wanted to live there, as it was very inconvenient to come and go because there was no bridge yet. When the suggestion to put up a bridge across the Mactan channel was brought up by Serging... the biggest obstacle was... lack of money.

However, lack of money didn't deter Serging... and later after Martial Law was declared... the 1st Mactan bridge was constructed by VC Ponce and a toll charge was exacted for those using the bridge to pay back its construction cost. If anyone should be given credit to what Mactan Island is today, credit is due to Serging Osmeña because he had a vision for Mactan Island and today, Mactan Island gives Cebu it's number one tourist destination, the Mactan International Airport and the export processing zones that generate jobs for thousands of workers. Alas, I don't see the people of Lapu-Lapu City give honor Sen. Serging Osmeña, Jr. even with a small bust or statue!

The reason I'm writing this today comes from a quotation from our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal "To read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book of its past". Today Mactan continues on its road to the future, especially with the opening of the International Academy of Film and Television, which if given enough support, it would turn Cebu bigger than Bollywood of India... thus renaming us into CebuWood!

But this early, rumors were flying thick during the Ad Congress that its owners only have regrets that they built this facility because a public official demanded a bribe for them to operate. This has been written in tsismis columns and if only we could get a name... we would crucify this public official and make sure that he would pay dearly for his corruption!

Meanwhile, let's go back to another vision of Serging Osmeña. If we have a serious lack of water today, it is due to the fact that we didn't have the P1 billion pesos to build the Lusaran Dam 40 years ago. Well, we didn't have the money to build the Mactan Bridge; but we built it anyway and look what happened to Mactan now? In hindsight, if we constructed the Lusaran Dam back in those days, we wouldn't have any water problems today.

Here, I just gave you the two visions of Serging Osmeña. Both proposals suffered from lack of funds. But the Mactan Bridge was constructed, while the Lusaran Dam was shelved. Today, we can only heave a sigh that if only they went through with the construction of the Lusaran Dam... but then that would be crying over spilled milk! Too late for that now. But it doesn't mean that we don't need the Lusaran Dam... we actually need it more now than before because of our ever-growing population.

Today, we need to start the ball rolling for the construction of the 3rd bridge to Mactan and my suggestion was either a bridge or a tunnel between Cebu City and Cordova. Mayor Osmeña's opposition to a bridge is that, it would block the Port of Cebu. Actually, we can still do it using a drawbridge similar to the ones you see in New York or in London. Another proposition is to build a tunnel, which is far more expensive.

Again, let me point out that we do not have the money today for the 3rd bridge. But we shouldn't block it because of lack of money. If we always thought that way, Mactan today would still be the same desolate place it used to be. This is why we need to open the minds of our political leaders by bringing them back to the past so they can find better ways for the future.

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