Cebu City councilor wants city to open co-working space

By: Delta Dyrecka Letigio - Multimedia Reporter - CDN Digital | January 29,2022 - 02:47 PM

Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival. | file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival is asking the Executive Department to open a co-working space for workers in the city.

In a resolution passed by the City Council, Archival said that since Typhoon Odette hit Cebu on December 16, 2022, many employees working at home found it difficult to find places to work.

“As of January 20, 2022, the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) has reported that out of 215,339 clients within Cebu City, 164,989 representing 77 percent were re-energized. VECO targets 100 percent restoration by January 31, 2021. Also, as of January 20, 2022, the majority of fiber optic internet services are still down,” said Archival.

“The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) targets to fully restore its internet services by March 30, 2022. A lot of our constituents are looking for a co-working space in order for them to be able to work online,” he said.

Many other local government units such as Talisay City, Mandaue City, and Liloan town have opened their own co-working spaces for free for their residents in early January 2022. Yet, Cebu City has not opened one.

With this, Archival is asking Rama to allocate an open space to be dedicated as a co-working space operating 24-hours equipped with tables, chairs, electricity, and stable internet and to take into consideration the minimum health protocol.

“A lot of our constituents are looking for a co-working space in order for them to be able to work online,” he said.

In previous statements, Rama said he was open to putting up a co-working space as the City Hall already had put up a charging station.

However, the mayor has not pushed through with the plan yet for unknown reasons.