Faulty system

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is eager to see through the multi-billion-peso contract with the Gokongwei group to develop the former Kawit Island at the South Road Properties (SRP). That was obvious weeks ago when he endured waiting for the City Council, which was then controlled by the opposition Barug Team Rama, to allow him to speak in support of his pet project. He was denied that opportunity.

No wonder that when the majority in the council shifted from the opposition to the administration BOPK with the entries of pro-BOPK heads of the SK federation and the ABC in the said legislative body, at the end of the party’s agenda was to give the mayor the authority to enter into the Kawit contract.

There actually wasn’t anything Barug Team Rama members could do to stop the BOPK assault but they tried to do something nevertheless: they postponed the inevitable by maneuvering to adjourn the session last week despite the objection of the BOPK councilors. But the holding-out strategy will eventually crumble considering reality.

Which just proves that politicking and not public interest has already consumed the members of the Cebu City Council. I would have preferred that such an important project as the one proposed in Kawit should be scrutinized well, especially because the mayor is championing a 50-year contract. If the City is disadvantaged, the disadvantage will be inflicted on Cebuanos for 50 years.

The danger with the mayor as champion of the project to the point of acting like the spokesperson of the Gokongwei-led Universal Hotel and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) is that provisions in the contract that would disadvantage the City would be glossed over.

The haste to have the project approved is also obvious, which again is dangerous. Osmeña apparently wants to see the contract through before the campaign for the May 2019 elections open. One reason for that is because he wants the voters to see the project as his achievement. The other reason isn’t so obvious but one that is also crucial for the elections: funding.

To be fair, the political opposition may also have dubious motivation in blocking the project for now. Barug councilors apparently feel that they would be disadvantaged in the elections if the BOPK gets its way. That could be a blinder too, with them failing to see the advantages for the city constituents of seeing the project through.

What I am saying is that assessing major projects with jaundiced eyes won’t serve the best interests of the City. Politicking and ego are not the best guides in such an appraisal. I think even UHRI knows that. The firm can just look at the sale of SRP lots to major developers by the then administration of Michael Rama. With Osmeña as mayor, he is making it difficult for the developers to implement projects in the bought lots.

I think the ideal period to discuss projects under the present three-year term for local government officials is the year immediately after an election. This is because in the next two years after that politicians will already be preparing for the next elections. This fault in the political setup is what the Cebu City Council is displaying now.