Osmeña: Dino loses interest in debate

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña

BRT PROJECT

Opposition councilors express reservations on the project, citing narrow roads in Cebu City

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he was willing to go on a debate with Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

He said for the sake of the Cebuanos, he will face Dino even though the debate is only “a waste of time.”

“He (Dino) can do no good for Cebu. He just likes to destroy,” he said.

When the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) approved the budget increase for the project, Osmeña said Dino’s motivation to go on a debate was losing.

Neda has approved the P5.69 billion additional budget. The project’s budget is now P16.3 billion.

However, Osmeña said the debate will also enable the Cebuanos to fully understand the implementation of BRT.

He said he was willing to present his side against Dino anytime and anywhere.

The mayor said should Dino refuse to face him, it would only mean Dino loses by default.

“That means he has to swallow what he said. It doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t win this. Cebu won,” he said.

To recall, Dino expressed objection for the BRT system and instead pushed for the Light Rail Transit (LRT).

Osmeña said he has no problem with the LRT going side-by-side with the BRT. He said Dino should focus on LRT rather than destroying the BRT.

“They should concentrate working on the LRT, right? You are losing your time trying to destroy the BRT. Pildi na sila (They lose),” he said.

Meanwhile, several members of the Cebu City Council expressed reservations over the implementation of BRT project, citing the absence of designated lanes and wider roads.

Council supports BRT

The resolution to express full support on the BRT project was penned by Councilor Sisinio Andales from the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK). The resolution received a majority vote of 12 out of 17.

Those who voted in favor of Andales’ ordinance were all nine BO-PK councilors and Team Rama councilors Philip Zafra, Jose Daluz III and Eduardo Rama Jr.

Opposition councilors Jocelyn Pesquera, Jun Alcover Jr., and James Anthony Cuenco voted against it, while Joel Garganera and Alvin Garcia abstained from voting.

“The BRT is nothing but a band-aid solution to the traffic problem,” Alcover said.

The discussion during yesterday’s City Council session began with Garganera, who said his hope for the BRT to succeed became blurry, citing no dedicated lanes and narrow roads found in the places affected by its implementation.

“I want the BRT to succeed…but it should have wider roads and designated lanes,” he stated.

Garganera stated that he wanted the BRT to succeed as a solution to ease the growing traffic congestion in Metro Cebu after he discovered several similarities between the BRT being implemented in Cebu City and the one found in Guangzhou City in China. But upon discovery that the BRT in the Chinese city was successful due to its dedicated bus lanes and wider roads, it led him to liken the BRT system in Cebu City as a “conventional, ordinary bus lane.”

“I had the opportunity to visit Guangzhou whose BRT system can transport up to one million passengers a day. But I observed that their BRT has dedicated lanes, and have wide roads. And these cannot be found in the BRT in Cebu City,” he explained.

The construction of Phase 1 of the BRT has not yet started, pending the completion of the right-of-way acquisition and the finalization of the list of affected properties and persons.

BRT – Project Implementation Unit head Rafael Yap earlier said Phase 1 of the BRT will cover areas from the South Road Properties (SRP) to the Capitol.