What is being funded with the BRT?

 Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) General Manager Paul Villarete reported that the new terminal building and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) were among the projects that the national government has approved and is slated to rollout this year. Call me ecstatic… that these projects would finally start to move.

 Let me point out that the MCIA terminal was conceptualized during our terms as Board of Directors (BoD), which by the way includes a parallel runway, which in my book is essential to our future. But the bigwigs at the DOTC didn’t give any importance to the 2nd runway for Mactan. Because of their “terminal” attitude, the NAIA is now saddled with runway traffic problems, something that the previous administration could not solve and unfortunately, they are still not solving this problem even under PNoy.

 As for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), I still have to see the concrete plans for this system. Will it be funded by phases or will it be funded on a per line basis? Perhaps now is the time for Paul Villarete to tell us what the Aquino government is funding. We’ve waited for the BRT to be implemented… we should not fail to inform our people what this is about.

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 It was big news when we learned that during a presscon, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and Archbishop Emeritus, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal showed a scale model of the proposed structure that we call a “templete” that would be constructed for the National Thanksgiving celebration for soon to be saint Blessed Pedro Calungsod on Nov. 30. As announced by Ms. Marissa Fernan, SM Prime Vice-President, SM would do the site preparations and fund what needs to be funded.

 Little do Cebuanos remember that on April 1965, during the 4th Centennial of the Christianization of the Philippines, there was also a templete that was constructed in what is now the North Reclamation Area. I still have the special anniversary magazine that showed many black and white photos of the biggest event that Cebuanos held to commemorate the 400th year of our Christianity. If you ask me, that templete should have become a historical site… but since it was made of wood… it was soon dismantled and now only the photos have remained.

 When Pope John Paul II came to Cebu, another templete was constructed at the old Lahug Airport in what is now the AsiaTown I.T. Park. I still recall that there was a very tall cross made of lumber that towered over the old airfield. It was then Cebu City’s only major open space; hence it was the perfect place for Pope John Paul II to hold a mass with Cebuanos. But even that has been destroyed and now there are tall buildings in that area. Perhaps there should be some kind of official marker to remind us Cebuanos that the late Great Pope John Paul II came to our shores.

 This is the problem with us Cebuanos, we don’t have a sense of history even if we are a witness to it. Perhaps the Cebu Archdiocese committee on Culture and History ought to come up with plaques marking the sites where Catholic history was made here in Cebu. As for the SM site for the National Thanksgiving, it is really not that significant in the sense that the major event for Blessed Pedro Calungsod happens on Oct.21 in Rome for his canonization. The thanksgiving mass is a way of allowing those who could not go to Rome to participate in that great event.

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 Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III was in the United Kingdom to plead his case on our claim in the West Philippine Sea, which we used to call the South China Sea, but UK Prime Minister David Cameron was non-committal in siding with the Philippine claim. In truth, the British have more business contacts with China than in the Philippines, so why should they take the side of the Philippines when there really is nothing of interest for the British in helping us with our claim?

 If you ask me, the President’s bringing the Panatag Shoal issue on the table during the talks with the British Prime Minister will only widen the rift between China and the Philippines instead of diffusing the tension. Now PNoy is in the United States supposedly upon the invitation of US Pres. Barrack Obama. This makes me ponder… was PNoy “invited” or was he “summoned” by the US President?

 For sure… on the table at the White House is US Pres. Barrack Obama’s demand for the Philippines to adopt our Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, which would eventually lead to same sex marriage, and a divorce bill. It is a fact that Karen Davila last Thursday already had a guest from Gabriela talking about the need for a divorce law in the Philippines. So we can expect some announcements on these issues when the President makes a report on his White House visit.

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