So, it’s out. Winston is running for governor

The Community of St. Johns in cooperation with the University of San Carlos Biology Department and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Education invite you to the Kahayag Forum on the theme “Protect the Earth, Dignity, Humanity” on Friday Aug. 21st at the Sacred Heart Center Convention Hall from 1:00PM to 8:00PM.

The Kahayag Forum aims to engage in a dialogue with contemporary Filipino society particularly professionals, employees, educators, senior and graduate students, and intellectuals who may or may not be involved in the Catholic Church. The forum will include conferences (topics are listed below) and will end with a Holy Eucharist celebrated by the newly ordained Bishop Dennis Villarojo.

These are the topics you will hear in the forum: Resilience and Sustainability:  Leadership in the Age of Climate Change with Christopher Ryan Maboloc, MA, MAE Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City as the speaker. The second topic is about New Climate Thinking with Dr. Glen Martin Green, PhD Associate Professor, Biology Department, University of San Carlos, and the 3rd topic is Metanoia for our Common Home: Heeding the Groans of Man and Nature with Fr. Justin Lee, CSJ Novice Master, Brothers of Saint John as the speaker. Registration on site is P200, while pre-registration is P150.00.

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This report just came in as I was about to email this column:  the Supreme Court has confirmed and approved the petition for bail of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. This is big news indeed, which should trigger more questions than answers…what about the status of the other senators, Jinggoy and Bong Revilla? Surely they have a similar petition before the SC to grant them bail? Then there’s former Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

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Our special guest in our 888 News Forum yesterday at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel was former Government Service Insurance System general manager Winston Garcia who came up with a video presentation on what he intends to do in the next three years if and when he is elected governor of Cebu. Hmmmm, while he did not yet categorically state that he was running for governor of Cebu, but his plan of action shows that this is a man with a plan, which in my book is a whiff of fresh air that Cebuanos haven’t heard in the last five years under the Aquino Regime.

Obviously, Winston Garcia has been reading my columns, both in the Philippine Star and in The Freeman as most of the infrastructure projects he outlined were taken from our columns. His plan to ask who will be the next president of the Philippines to have the P14.4 billion monies that the GMR/Megawide consortium paid for the 25-year lease of the Mactan Cebu International Airport was very laudable. It’s about time someone said something about this issue.

Winston is unlike current Cebu Governor Hilario “JunJun” Davide III who was beside Pres. Benigno Aquino III when he revealed that the money we earned in advance for the lease of MCIA would be deposited in the National Treasury for use of other projects. Gov. Davide didn’t dare question the President to leave that money in the hands of Cebuanos for our projects in Cebu! Hmmm, did I hear correctly that during the 446th founding anniversary of the province of Cebu, he was in Hong Kong Disneyland to meet with Mickey Mouse? What a shame!

But Winston did present us with his great ideas… that he would reclaim from Talisay to Carcar land where he would put up an eight-lane roadway, which would certainly decongest the humongous traffic happening there every single day. Then he would set up an International container Port in Consolacion where there is deep water for huge container ships and decongest the North Reclamation Area.

Finally he would put up a Light Rail Transit for Cebu, which would follow the route of the old Cebu Railway. Now honestly, I don’t believe that all these projects can happen in just three years. But if we lined up these projects and get the funding done and start them, we will see a different Cebu in the next 10 years. What’s important here is that Cebu follow the path of the great cities. Yes I’m talking of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok, which all have working mass transit rail-based systems which can go as far as Bogo City in the North and Carcar in the South. If this happens, Cebu will create its own critical mass and grow economically even without the help of Imperial Manila.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.