Among the first positive effects resulting from the so-called EDSA revolution was our ability to express our sentiments against imperial Manila. I relished that advocacy immensely. The feeling of re-discovered freedom was very contagious. We no longer cowed in fear. Without becoming offensive to the newly-installed power wielders, our own local leaders firmly stated our position on matters of necessary (read it as regionalistic) concern.
One issue that we believed was legitimate referred to the distribution of national wealth. For years before the “Peoples’ Power”, it seemed to us that the central government was solely concerned with the development of Metro Manila alone to the detriment of the rest of the nation.
I felt it was right and timely to let out our indignation. We had to inform decision makers to treat us with parity. In so many words, we pointed out that our government forgot the countryside, this term to mean outside of Metro Manila. While Manila was (and still is) the seat of power, it was wrong for highest officials of the country to discriminate against Visayas and Mindanao as if we were not part of the republic. After all, we also contributed to the national fund.
Understandably, we all rallied behind our local leaders in the struggle for equal treatment. We used hard facts and data to back up our gripe. We showed that we paid a sizeable amount of national taxes yet, infrastructure projects like road networks and fly-overs were mostly erected in Luzon.
Arising from the passionate discourse of our leaders, I could recall how we salivated at the railway transit system that served thousands of Metro Manila commuters. The MRT/LRT looked efficient and we questioned why our government built no such kind of transport system for us here in Cebu. Our feeling of discrimination heightened no end in the light of our knowledge that we too, contributed to its construction cost and continue to pay for its maintenance.
We argued that we could also use a similar mode of travel for our thousands of passengers hereabout. It would be fast and cost effective. The jeepneys that plied our passenger routes were getting less reliable and their carbon emission was harmful to our health and environment. Quite naturally, we hailed the earlier studies being conducted for the establishment of the railway in our metropolitan area and asked our leaders to push for it.
Of course, fairness and equality served as the foundation of all arguments. We should not just be sources of taxes and contributors to national wealth. It was a matter of fairness that portions of national revenues be poured in projects that benefit our island. If, as an specific example, we and all Filipinos, shared the cost of building and maintaining the MRT/LRT that traversed only Metro Manila, the rest of the country should also help pay for a similar system made for our use.
Recent events indicate that we might have been taken for a ride by our leaders. They persuaded us into thinking that, per demands of parity, infrastructure projects should be done in our island as they are undertaken in Metro Manila. Our leaders convinced us into believing that we should enjoy the benefits of say, an efficient railway system even if the whole nation pays for it.
But, that is not what I am hearing now. There is a perceptible turn around of thought. His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña is singing a different tune. Professing like an honest guardian of peoples’ money, he no longer points to the need of putting up a railway system in Metro Cebu, to the Cebuano’s benefit, but of advancing the apprehension that in the end, we pay for it. Why, he should have vehemently fought the construction of a very expensive bridge in Agas-agas, Sogod, Southern Leyte because aside that not many Filipinos (and certainly still fewer Cebuanos) use it, we all share its construction and maintenance costs. What gives Mayor?