Partido Barug: Hybrid Cebu City administration unimaginable

Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera speaks during the Mega Cebu Candidates Forum held at the University of San Carlos (USC) Downtown Campus on Monday, April 29, 2019. With her are (from left) congressional bet Richard Yap, mayoralty bet and incumbent Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, and former mayor now vice mayoral bet Michael Rama. CDN Digital photo | Rosalie Abatayo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — How would the Cebu City administration look like after the May 13, 2019 midterm polls should the two highest posts be filled with officials from different parties?

Well, that’s a scenario that the opposition party, Partido Barug, would “not want to imagine.”

“We do not want to entertain the what if [not all of us will win] because if we entertain the what if, we are likely to entertain the ‘as if.’ Do not entertain the ‘what if,'” said former mayor Michael Rama, who is running for vice mayor in this year’s elections.

Partido Barug standard bearer Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is eyeing the mayor’s post, and Rama attended the morning leg of the Mega Cebu Candidates Forum held at the University of San Carlos (USC) Downtown Campus on Monday, April 29, 2019. They were with congressional bets, incumbent City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, and actor Richard Yap.

Labella and Rama said that a straight win for their party is needed to ensure the delivery of the national projects sanctioned by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for the city.

According to Labella, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, which is part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) Integrated Intermodal Transport System (IITS), is among the projects that Partido Barug is looking to focus on should they win it straight.

“If you are familiar with the Cebuano word ‘hapsay,’ at the beginning of our term we will be having an executive-legislative agenda meeting so that we will have a very clear and tangible picture of what we want to do in Cebu City,” said Labella.

Among the campaign promises laid out by Partido Barug candidates during the forum, which was mostly attended by the University’s students, were the creation of a Cebu City College, solutions to traffic woes through utilization of spaces “underneath,” operationability of the Cebu City Medical Center, efforts in preserving the river systems in the city, and employing technology to address effects of El Niño by developing water catchment facilities.

They also emphasized on heritage preservations, which they mostly anchored on the celebration of the 500th year since the arrival of Catholicism in the Philippines come March 2021.

“We have to be there for 2021 because 2021 is a very important year as it will be when heritage will be highlighted, Christianity will be highlighted,” Rama said. /bmjo