Dear Hon. Governor Davide III:
Here is a sincere though rather anxious greetings hastily composed from the geriatric confinement room of this octogenarian after electricity was restored just past 2 p.m. today thereby resuming power supply to our equally "anti-diluvian" laptop, a day after electricity's abrupt disruption brought about among a wide swath of wrath yesterday by the phenomenal Super Typhoon Yolanda. In view of which once-in-a-lifetime devastating act-of-nature, some of us distraught Cebuanos and concerned residents in those parts of central and southern Cebu are still in a blind for anguishedly not being able to communicate with up to this writing with our kin/friends/kababayans/etc. in northern Cebu. Especially so with those in the island groups of Bantayan and Camotes, through our supposedly modern means of telecommunications (telcos) facilities such as the telephone/cellphone/Internet/etc. That have all sadly bogged down!
It is in the light of this sad let-down by the privately-run telcos in said tourism and economically-growing Cebu Island groups destinations during the occurrence of the unwelcomed catastrophe when their communications services were most needed that this aging, trivial, though still advocacy-oriented self, as a concerned Cebuano respectfully writes this sort of "reminder" letter to Your Honor. This time, not on behalf of our above-listed two advocacy groups of the POOR (Pensionless Old-age and Optional Retirees) and AGFEA (Advocacy by the Global Filipinos for Economic Advancement), but instead, of a taxpayer's concern. It may be recalled that as a sequel to our first letter to you on Jan. 23, 2013 addressed to your then law office at 4/F of Diaz Bldg., we later wrote on June 01, 2013 to your illustrious father, Dong Jun (our yesteryears' friend) copy furnished yourself then already as Gov.-Elect, wherein we enclosed a copy of our amateurish volunteerism compilation on some supposed areas of provincial governance concerns titled: "SYLLABUS ON THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE WHOLISTIC PLATFORMS FOR AN ENLIGHTENED PROVINCIAL GOVERNANCE Alphabetically Arranged". On page 4 of which in the portion under letter "A" appears the heading "BROADBAND NETWORK".
In what appears now to be of some sort of a "prophetic" imagination then that could have helped resolve otherwise the communications breakdown abovementioned, we sort of proposed for the setting up of some kind of a pilot, fail-safe Cebu Islandwide Broadband Network (momentary acronym CIBN). To be undertaken appropriately through some scheme of the PPP (Public Private Partnership) program of the PNoy administration, the same being a big-ticket, hence "flagship" ICT (Information & Communications Technology) project. A scaled-down parallel project of some sort to the botched, though ideally-conceptualized initially (originally by the foreign principals and the local group of Joey de Venecia) and technologically progress-intended NBN (Nationwide Broadband Network) - ZTE deal. Before the aborted scam of: "May P200M ka dito Sec.!" For the purposes of effectively, efficiently, and instantly connecting the Provincial Capitol as well as the private stakeholders therein with the far-flung LGUs and vice versa, as well as among each other, like those towns in the tourism-destination and rich fishing-ground islands of Bantayan and Camotes preferably on 7/24 schedule. For emergency and regular purposes, among others.
Don't you think so Hon. Governor that the timeliness of this "wild" idea has now surfaced so as to be worth visiting by the wise technical staff of your Provincial Economic Development Council in tandem with the interested private sector as to its hoped-for feasibility for the added progress of our beloved Cebu?
Buenaventura (Boy/Buen) Semilla
POOR & AGFEA PRO cum advocate
buensem@gmail.com or buensem33@yahoo.com