The CA must put a stop to jai-alai forever!

I’m really glad that the Court of Appeals (CA) stopped albeit temporarily the continued playing of the jai-alai games operated by the Meridien Vista Gaming Corp. at the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority in Sta. Ana Cagayan. In today’s digital age, the games were shown on cable TV and the illegal “masiao” numbers game flourished because they now have a jai-alai fronton as their source for the winning numbers.

I submit that I was once a fan of the jai-alai games, after all they are very exciting and in the 70s when the jai-alai fronton was opened in Mambaling, I would frequent that place and enjoy watching it. But the dark side of jai-alai loomed when the winning numbers were used for an illegal numbers game called “masiao.” When jai-alai was banned, masiao disappeared. But the resurgence of jai-alai also resulted in the return of masiao. With the CA ruling, let’s hope that they’ll stop this game forever, so that would be one headache less for the police.

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I couldn’t help but notice the open letter written by former Cebu City Mayor Mario Ortiz and published in The FREEMAN last Monday giving us a bit of history about the Osmeña Shrine that as Atty. Ortiz said, “was earlier designated or reserved as an Osmeña Shrine in honor of our President Sergio Osmeña, Sr. The lot known as the Osmeña Shrine is actually a part of Beverly Hills. It overlooks the Center of Cebu City adjoining Taoist Temple, the Girl Scouts Headquarters and Boy Scouts Camp site.”

This is the very reason why many people living around the area are against the construction of a cemetery by the Evangelical Christian Coalition of Cebu, Inc., because this is a place for the living and not for the dead. As Atty. Ortiz correctly pointed out, “The late Eddie Woolbright, developer of Beverly Hills, together with other officials of the City and Province of Cebu were privy to plans for the development of the Osmeña Shrine. A cemetery for the exclusive use of members of a religious sect would not make a good substitute for the Osmeña Shrine. That group can certainly afford to set up their cemetery in other areas of Cebu.”

But I heard from a very reliable source that close friends of Rep. Tomas Osmeña have advised him on proceeding with this deal, but he just wouldn’t listen, nor is he about to budge nor renege on this deal, which was signed on May 4, 2010 as duly authorized by the Cebu City Council’s Resolution No. 2317 4-13-10. This should give you a hint of the mind of Tomas Osmeña, that when he has made up his mind, come hell or high water, he would defend it. So the question now hanging is whether or not this deal can still be scuttled? Many lawyers are saying, “We can show you the ways.”

Many legal minds are saying that since there was no prior public hearing on making a cemetery out of that piece of land, then it can still be stopped. Mind you, cemeteries are the most difficult to approve in any city council simply because of the environmental impact on the neighborhood. But this one apparently breezed through in the Cebu City Council because at that time, Mayor Osmeña was firmly in control of Cebu City Hall.

The other legal minefield that the former mayor could walk into, which could derail this project, is the question whether public land, which is for public use, can be donated to a private entity, more so that this is a religious organization? In the issue of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, the question of the separation of Church and State has been debated to the death, more so that the Christian organization that got the donation have plans to sell cemetery plots to their members.

Come to think of it, Tommy Osmeña blocked the Ciudad Project that would have created new edifices in the Banilad area, removed the ugly squatters along the road and improved the traffic situation because it opens new roads that would unclog the Salinas Dr. Arch. Reyes intersection, while providing job opportunities to the Cebuanos living nearby. But in this cemetery deal, he quietly approves it, knowing too well that people would certainly oppose this deal if it ever leaks out.

If Rep. Tomas Osmeña still listens to good advice, he should scrap this deal before it scraps him! Surely his grandpa Don Sergio Osmeña, Sr. and his father Sen. Serging Osmeña, Jr. are turning on their graves because of this controversial deal. We’re not accusing Tommy of corruption, but of a serious judgment call. Others are not so kind; they are accusing him of violation of the Election Code for signing this deal before the elections. At this point in his political career, Tomas Osmeña doesn’t need more enemies and if he wants to win back the City of Cebu, he needs all the votes he can muster. If he doesn’t listen, who knows, this could become his political graveyard!

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