Whether or not the Provincial Board’s decision to stall approval of the Provincial Resource Center building project is a good or bad thing depends on a lot of factors including its accessibility to employees and at least majority of its constituents, who are mostly in the countryside.
The PB’s decision to submit its resolution to approve the project for review at the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) is a surprising and telling development given that the incumbent administration has allies in the board with its presiding officer, Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, running for governor and Gov. Hilario Davide III as vice governor.
That said, the P20-storey, P1.3 billion Provincial Resource Center project has encountered another legal obstacle, this time from the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (CHAC) chaired by Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella.
Setting aside Labella’s political ties with the incumbent administration which counts as its allies, Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district who is gunning anew for the gubernatorial post, the CHAC’s eventual position on the project cannot be simply dismissed as linked to politics, election or otherwise.
“Our position is still subject for consensus within members of CHAC. As for the guidelines on proposing projects, we will definitely tackle their historical and heritage dimensions,” the vice mayor said.
The “historical and heritage dimensions” were already outlined in detail by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) who objected to the project because its sheer size and location—it is situated a few meters away from the Capitol’s historic executive building–distorts the Capitol’s image as a historical landmark.
It’s also not surprising to note that Labella’s position stemmed from complaints from concerned citizens who likely include heritage conservation advocates and their partners and they have the NHCP’s position as basis for opposing the project.
For it is the NHCP position and the likely possibility that the Provincial Resource Center building will become a magnet that will worsen traffic congestion in the already clogged Capitol Site area that are the most potent arguments against continuing with the project.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III’s insistence in continuing construction of the center which is awarded to WT Construction whose work in the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) he himself questioned merely bolstered suspicions– justified or not–that the project may be tied to next year’s elections.
And with the elections more than five months away, it’s perhaps best for everyone in the province that the PB put on the brakes and deliberate more on the necessity of the Provincial Resource Center project.