ABOUT 200 residents and owners of properties affected by the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Barangay Pardo attended a dialogue at the barangay gym to vent their concerns on the project Wednesday afternoon.
Though Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino was invited as speaker for the forum, organizers quickly claimed that the dialogue was not held under his office.
Dino is opposed to the BRT project and is lobbying to have it replaced with a Light Railway Transit (LRT) project with a subway component.
“This is not organized by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV). Secretary Dino was just invited as a speaker but as far as we know, he was out of the country. This was an initiative of our constituents in the southern barangays of Cebu City,” said Pardo barangay chairperson Althea Racuya-Lim said.
Residents from neighboring barangays Bulacao, Basak-Pardo, Basak-San Nicolas, and Mambaling are said to have also attended the dialogue. Lim said the residents wanted to raise their concerns to Dino about the project.
In place of Dino Philip Zafra, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) – Cebu City Federation became the keynote speaker.
Francisco Fernandez, the executive assistant of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, also attended the event which held an open forum on the project.