An angle of public-private partnership

On my way to attend a meeting called by officers of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, I walked on a sidewalk along Osmeña Boulevard few days ago.  It was the same sidewalk that I trekked on when I joined mass actions in front of the then Third Philippine Constabulary Zone in the days before Martial law was declared only this time the walkway not just made out of concrete slabs but of bricks of the expensive kind and the work was obviously done in good taste.

I recalled that only recently, the group of Madame Mariquita Salimbangon- Yeung extended its helping hand in making a great length of Osmeña Boulevard compatible to its historic significance. There was attendant (and of course, necessary) publicity when the project was launched.  It undertook the task of improving the sidewalk along what was once known as the Jones Avenue, reportedly spending its own funds, in the process. The city was the beneficiary of the corporate social responsibility of the Salimbangon-Yeungs. The result was a very well paved sidewalk bordered by exquisite lamp stands and topped by attractive pieces of iron works that serve as protective housing to electrical bulbs.

The same effort, minus the lamp posts, is apparently done on the stretches of San Jose de la Montaña, Archbishop Reyes Avenue and Gov. Manuel Cuenco Avenue approaching the fly-over. In this area, some structures that encroached upon the sidewalk had to be torn down and the remaining parts of buildings redone to match the desired effect. What is also appreciable is the fact that the resultant sidewalk space is comfortably wide.

For a while, I could not be certain who was paying for this on-going beautification at the fly-over area.  The kind of red bricks used however, looked similar to the material employed at the Jones Avenue. In recalling the pronouncements made by both the government leaders and the sponsoring private partners when the Jones Avenue work began that they were trying to highlight the tourist destinations within the city, I assumed that the Salimbangon-Yeung group was also underwriting this project. Late inputs from Atty. Jomar Poblete and Engr Kenneth Enriquez corrected my perception. The national government is funding it.

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, I am more concerned with something else. Yes, we Cebuanos should be grateful to such wealthy families as the Salimbangon-Yeungs for their concern of our city.  It is not every day that we see rich people dig into their pockets to contribute to the well being of the city. So, when they do, we should not hesitate to express our gratitude.

Yet, while the Salimbangon-Yeung contribution at the Jones Avenue is well paved, the sidewalk that I stepped on to attend to the Central Bank meeting, showed obvious signs of non-care, if not, neglect. It was covered by thick dust that the expensive bricks were not discernible. Waste paper, cigarette butts, banana peelings and barbecue sticks, among other forms of trash, littered.

Should the Salimbangon-Yeungs visit the area where they poured a sizeable sum to beautify, they would be disheartened. As the unclean sight makes the site   repulsive to me to look at, that benefactor of a family would, perhaps, conclude that their contribution was not well appreciated by government officials. It could sink in their mind that their objective in allocating huge funds is not achieved such that they just have to think twice before contributing more to our city.

It therefore behooves upon the city to match the graciousness of private citizens.  For us to talk about public-private partnership, this is an angle. In this case, the city should assign workers with specific instructions to make sure that the whole stretch that was beautified by private funds, should be meticulously maintained not only for it to look spic and span but specially to give import to its historical perspective. Who knows, with more tourists promenading along a beautiful and historic Jones Avenue, more well-to-do families will be challenged to help our city in more imaginative ways.