Revisit the ordinance, never mind the author

While in public service, long before I started to write this column, I made it a point to visit Mr. Juanito V. Jabat, then Editor-in-Chief, at his office at The Freeman. I like to believe that he was unaware that the availability of coffee was my cue. (Smile). When Sir Nits was not very busy, he would offer me a cup of coffee. Were there no cups coming, I would just proceed to my next station.

In one such friendly visit, I shared with him a secret. I told him that my having voluntarily left the majority group called BOPK affected my local legislative work. The proposed measures I filed either were not acted upon at the committees they were referred to or “killed” during the plenary voting. It was frustrating to feel that the proposals did not merit the slightest attention simply because the proponent did not anymore belong to the club.

Because of that belief, I resorted to a scheme that I employed when working on the Revised Road Ordinance. The way I saw it, for the city to achieve premier status, its road network had to be improved. And three principles evolved. They were: (1) to straighten the roads, (2) widen the streets and (3) build new ones.

In the early years of our city, many of its streets were built to follow the contours of the landholdings of the city’s major political families and social elite. Necessarily, they were to curve and bend to get as close to the boundaries of those priced possessions as possible. Urban planning was, probably, the least concern. This point is substantiated by the fact that the corner lots in the center of the city are owned by few prominent names. Thus, the result, which is evident until today, is a maze of roads popping out of and leading to nowhere. These streets had to be straightened.

When those uncharted roads were constructed, the apparent consideration was just to make sure that the lots of high-strung personalities were accessible. Building a road that would allow then two of the city’s few cars from opposite directions to meet comfortably was already a luxury. And that purpose was achieved with streets that, by the time I considered the ordinance, were quite narrow. They had to be widened.

Some of those streets were built close to one another and with varying degrees of proximity that defied logic. But in many parts of the city, where roads would have been made, none was constructed. New roads had to be opened.

In working out the draft of the ordinance, I sought assistance from technical men. They unselfishly provided professional inputs that, to my glee, validated my earlier observation. Yes, their profound thoughts helped give substance to the principles I mentioned above.

But what should I do? Given the evident political dynamics at the city council, I knew my sponsorship of the proposed ordinance would end in a debacle. It was too precious a piece of local legislation that should not be voted against! So, I passed it on to a fellow councilor. He put his name on it, as the author. The trick worked because the ordinance was approved without much further deliberation.

I refer to this Revised Road Ordinance as we read from the papers that His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, the CITOM head, former Councilor Jack Jakosalem and the Honorable Congresswoman Cutie del Mar are talking about our roads. To straighten and widen old roads and to build new ones need huge funds in the amount that the city alone may not be able to fully undertake.

Let me cite a case. The Echavez Street has to be straightened and widened somewhere approaching Sikatuna Street. At its end, we need to punch a road to connect to that street fronting the F. Ramos Market and then another new road onwards to Osmeña Boulevard. I am sure the money, which is prioritized by the lady representative for flyovers, can make this kind of a project more useful as they are more needful. Who knows, when the three of these leaders examine the text of the Revised Road Ordinance, they may find time to look beyond fleeting political alliances and get the resolve to implement the principles contained therein.