Eternal vigilance: The price of freedom!

It's one more day before D-Day comes when supposedly the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) would be completed and ready for the use during the 12th ASEAN Leader's Summit. I passed by there last Sunday and from the outside, it already looks completed. Of course, we expect technical glitches like electrical problems to give some irritating problems. But that's because these problems do not crop up unless the facility is already good and ready to use.

Perhaps a bigger problem are a squatter's colony some 200 yards closer to downtown Mandaue City, where there is even a dump site, which is very visible from the CICC and since that looks like what I think it is, a dumpsite, it's going to smell very bad. While there's still time, I think Mandaue City authorities should look into that problem. As for the CICC itself, it looks ready, but I don't want to preempt things. Let's hear the verdict from the Cebu Organizing Committee tomorrow.

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With the ever-present terrorist groups looking for ways to bomb airports, ports or other terminals, the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) was "exposed" as a security risk in the sense that it hosts a squatters colony where any of the residents there could provide a haven for terrorists to hide. This was one of Cebu's black marks, magnified by the fact that Cebu is headquarters to the nation's biggest domestic shipping companies. When the CPA tried to do something about this problem, it met stiff resistance, even from church leaders who supported the poor even if they caused a security risk to our shipping ports.

Well, apparently things have changed since then. I got an emailed letter from our good friend, Sam Costanilla requesting that this announcement be published in this corner. So here's that letter from Sammy. "His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has given his full approval to the move of the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) in asking all vendors inside the premises of the local port (from pier 1 to the SuperCat terminal) to voluntarily dismantle their stalls starting today.

CPA General Manager Angelo Verdan, authority board member Carlos Co and this writer were given Cardinal Vidal's blessing and affirmation during a brief visit to his residence last Friday morning. According to the Cebu archbishop, he is glad that the CPA is taking the move with the assurance that each stall owner would be given a substantial moving-out amount of P20,000 upon the complete dismantling of his/her stall. This amount is more than enough for them to restart their business elsewhere.

As of now, most of the stalls have already been dismantled by the vendors themselves. Verdan has assured Cardinal Vidal that the operation would be peaceful and orderly even as the CPA is optimistic that the activity would be over in a few days. Thank you for the space. Sam Costanilla, Public Relations Specialist Cebu Port Authority"

With this report, allow me to congratulate newly installed CPA General Manager Angelo Verdan for doing what the other managers failed to do. At this point, I certainly hope that we would no longer see any shanties inside the security fence of the CPA. But more important than seeing these shanties removed is the continued vigilance of CPA security that those who used to live there won't be coming back ever! Too often, we remove squatters, pay their "disturbance fees" and a year later, they're back in the same place. Indeed, as Churchill once said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."

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There's so much radio noise about the security measures that are being made for the coming ASEAN Summit, especially about the closure of roads leading to the convention sites. This is precisely the reason why Mayor Tomas Osmeña insisted for that four-day holiday during the weeklong summit so that millions of students do not need to go to school and mingle with traffic. With no school traffic to contend with, traffic would not be as heavy as it usually is, hence the closure of some major roads won't affect many motorists as some pundits warned.

As an added measure, a friend of mine asked me where he would deliver his goods when the roads are closed. But before I could answer him, another friend offered a suggestion saying, "Why deliver those goods when you have no customers anyway because your customers can't also use the road?" Good answer. But yes, delivery trucks should only be allowed after 9:00PM so let's all cooperate and get this summit done and over with!

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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com