Round one was won in favor of more infrastructure when, in the late 1990s, a skywalk or pedestrian overpass was constructed right over the noses of what was then a tiny group of heritage advocates. That skywalk, now used more as a waterless toilet and sleeping quarters by vagrants today, effectively mars what was until then a magnificent approach and vista towards dear old Fuente Osmeña.
That fuente or fountain, was inaugurated in February 1912 to mark the first time that Cebu was getting tap water directly to Cebuano households–-in a sense the crowning jewel of a bunch of infrastructure projects that favored Cebu over all other provinces due to the unique bond and friendship between the young governor Sergio Osmeña Sr. and William Cameron Forbes, the American governor-general of the Philippines.
Those projects effectively put Cebu on the map and wrested the title “Queen City of the South” from Iloilo as a result– a claim that some Ilonggos will still contest until today.
Fast forward 20 years after this vista-marring skywalk and another infrastructure project, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT or in English, Rapid Transit Bus), looms just around the corner, this time passing by dear old Fuente and its rotunda up to the Capitol.
Things, however, are a bit different.
A formidable group of advocates, the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC), fresh from successes in stopping the construction of inefficient two-lane flyovers two years back and the cutting of century-old trees down south, is taking up the cudgels to ensure that no one mars the view of the fountain–and the trees that may be removed along the path of the transit bus.
What riles MLC most is the proposed route of the BRT, which will effectively bring it to Osmeña Boulevard where four heritage structures exist: the original 1911-built Southern Islands Hospital (or in pre-war years, the Hospital del Sur), Fuente Osmeña, the 1930s-built Rizal Memorial Library and the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
Its members, led by Marc Canton, find it illogical why the proposed BRT route covers areas with more trees than people.
Instead, they propose an alternative, where, as expected, there are more people and fewer trees to be cut: from Pardo to Talamban via N. Bacalso Avenue, to P. del Rosario and Imus Road, and on MJ Cuenco Avenue in Mandaue, turning to A.S. Fortuna and eventually reaching Talamban.
People today forget that William E Parsons designed Osmeña Boulevard in 1910 to be the Cebu equivalent of Champs Elysees in Paris, as I keep repeating in this column from time to time.
Where Fuente is, was supposed to be the site of the Cebu Provincial Capitol, until someone thought it would be best moved with the mountains in the background.
Nevertheless, this ceremonial route, linking the old pier and Plaza Independencia straight to Fuente and on to the Capitol was a revered processional route, whether you were a living dignitary or a dead one.
The remains of Gov. Buenaventura Rodriguez, for example, who died on the eve of elections in 1940, was put on a funeral hearse and marched down from the Capitol to the Cathedral using this route as did all the governors-general who visited Cebu (alive, of course).
In the Marian Year 1954 Celebrations, this entire stretch was lined with people and Marian arches all the way.
One can therefore imagine the planned procession of religious images using this route during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in 2016.
It is therefore understandable that MLC sees it illogical why this ceremonial route and the heritage structures contained therein, will be marred and affected by the BRT, when the most logical route, with extreme population densities, are not on this stretch.
They are, in fact, on N. Bacalso Avenue down to Imus and MJ Cuenco Avenue, where one finds all the schools and universities and all kinds of businesses and offices.
I am therefore convinced that a rethinking of the BRT route is in order, not just for historical and heritage reasons but also because there is a more logical alternative.