Those time-worn directional signs

In the second term of the administration of His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña, he benefited from the vision of then Cebu Governor Eduardo R. Gullas. As early as the 1980's, the former provincial governor dreamt of making our island a jewel with metropolitan Cebu as the main gem. Sir Eddiegul, as member of the powerful Executive Committee which, by the way, was, to me, a constitutional aberration, pulled his tremendous connections in pushing for a program which later on became known as the Metropolitan Cebu Development Project (MCDP).

Our government, notorious for its democratic (meaning, slow) pace of project prosecution, took a decade to evaluate and actualize the plan. Indeed, at the end of the long gestation period, we saw the opening of the roads within Cebu City, like the extension of the Imus road. There is no doubt that this infrastructure has tremendously helped ease traffic. Likewise, the MCDP program included the widening of such streets as the V. Rama Avenue. I do not even have to mention the kind of asphalt paving on these roads which was obviously of high quality.

What we probably took for granted were the directional signs. I refer to those markers that guide, especialy our visitors, which direction to go. They were constructed according to international standards and placed among the most visible and strategic areas along the streets in our city so as to achieve the very purpose of their being. With the names of places in white paint emblazoned against luminous (was it reflectorized?) green, they made travelers (and many of us, too) aware where the City Hall and the Capitol were, among many other places.

Today, however, time has caught up with these markers. After all, it has been more than 15 years since they were put up, save those few ones which were erected during the ASEAN Summit. What is their color now? The once fresh-looking paint has been so faded a lot that equating it with parched falling leaves is neither mischievous nor unfounded. Like old men, the faces of these markers bear creases imposed harshly by nature. They have become so weather-beaten. I was of the initial impression that these signs were made of stainless, and therefore rust-free, materials, so it surprises me to see some portions where rust has taken its ugly, if not dangerous, hold.

The least that our city administration can do is to restore these very helpful signs. Where only the paint has been chipped, a fresh coat of the luminous white and green paint originally used can do the magic. Those where the very integrity of the structure might have become suspect, like the support columns being hit by wayward vehicles, have to be replaced with new ones.

Since the time these markers were installed, there have been new points of reference. While writing their names on the markers will serve as advertisement and thus, incidentally beneficial to private institutions, the overall objective of informing the public where these places are takes premium. Where, for instance, is Waterfront Hotek, or the IT Park or the SRP? This matter of inquiry can be addressed by these directional signs. Our city should not hesitate to construct new such signs with these names (and more) and, as a consequence, make Cebu City very visitor-friendly.

To complement the restoration and erection of our traffic directional signs, the city must now patch the holes in our streets. There are some, if not, many parts of the city streets where traffic is slowed by road ruts. While we have observed in the last several years that weeks before election time our city administration, maybe for the purpose of swaying votes, always mounted well-publicized road repair projects, we do not have to wait for 2010. These projects have to be urgently attended to and done at the same time. It will look awkward if we had new directional markers of international standards yet our streets were of backward status.

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