Three buildings that should be restored ASAP
There are many buildings being proposed by the City of Cebu which is a good thing, but there are three important buildings that everyone wants to know whether it can be rebuilt or not? They are the Cebu City Medical Center, the Palace of Justice behind the Cebu Provincial Capitol and the Cebu International Convention Center. A year has already passed since the October 15, 2013 earthquake that rendered these three public buildings unusable. And it makes you wonder why a year later, nothing much has been done to those buildings, except the talk of its reconstruction.
It is a no-brainer that Cebu City must focus on rebuilding the CCMC. Let me say it here that perhaps we ought to accept that the earthquake was some kind of divine revelation, which in the end forced the City of Cebu to finally act on reconstructing this very much needed medical facility for the city residents. Before the earthquake, there were even plans to sell the CCMC because the City of Cebu could not afford to pay for the annual budget of that medical facility, which by the way was old, decrepit and poorly maintained. It had to take an act of God to bring down that building, so that the City of Cebu would not only replace it, but modernize its facilities and put it up to speed to the needs of the times and the size of our population.
Since we are not really privy to the plans of the Supreme Court, we have no idea whether the reconstruction of the Palace of Justice is still being planned or whether the reconstruction is already taking place? Perhaps the local judiciary here should inform the public at what stage is the Palace of Justice a year after the earthquake. Sure, the Regional and Municipal Courts have already transferred to faraway Qimonda IT Building and if you have been there, our courtrooms have gone from bad to worse!
When you are inside the courtroom, there is nothing that separates the people attending their court hearings from potentially dangerous criminals who may sit beside you. At this stage, we can only hope that the building planners for the Palace of Justice would come up with modern courtroom, just like what they have in the University of San Carlos Law School, which has mock courts for trial practice. Just imagine a 4th year law student gets used to their mock courtroom in school and when he or she passes the bar and goes to the real world, they ends up totally disappointed that our courtrooms are so far from what they have in school.
Finally there is the CICC, which still looks great from the outside, but we know that the internal damage has temporarily put a stop on the hosting of many national and international events. So what are the plans of the Province of Cebu to fix the CICC? I honestly do not know. But like it or not, we need to fix the CICC pronto less Cebu be left behind with the other cities that are constructing their own convention centers.
We know too well that Iloilo City is working feverishly to finish the Iloilo International Convention Center (IICC) despite allegations of corruption thrown against its chief proponent, Senator Franklin Drilon. Of course the questions thrown against Senator Drilon has merit for the simple reason that they are using the same contractor Hilmarc Construction that also constructed the Makati Office and Parking building, which has proven to be overpriced. But they are taking the "damn-the-torpedoes" attitude and construction has not stopped.
So what can Governor Hilario Davide III or the Provincial Board say about the CICC? As we have pointed out, it has already been a year and surely by now the planning and the talking should be over and I dare say that it is time for action. There are people here who do not believe in having a convention center. I call them economic saboteurs. All major cities in the world have a convention centers that they are proud of and Cebu would do well to speed up its plans to fix our very own CICC before Iloilo City leaves us behind.
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Today is the 130th birth anniversary of my paternal grandfather Don Jose Leon Avila, who was born in Carcar to Ms. Filomena Avila. She was the daughter of Don Andres Avelino and Doña Nicolosa Mercado Avelino. Yes after the Claveria Decree of November 21, 1849, Filipinos were allowed to change their names and use Spanish names so my great, great grandfather changed his name from Avelino to Avila. His father was rumored to be Fr. Manuel Rubio Fernandez, parish priest of Carcar who finished the present structure that is St. Catherine's church today. Don Jose Avila was schooled in St. Joseph's College in Hong Kong and return to Cebu as one of the first Cebuanos to speak the English Language. He became Provincial secretary, which is why he was known then as the "Little Governor" of Cebu as the Americans used him for many of their projects. My family is proud to be descendants of Don Jose Avila.
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