The site development on the new Cebu Capitol building in Balamban. | Photo by Wiley Yray
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Gubernatorial aspirant Pamela “Pam” Baricuatro said that she would not proceed with the plan to relocate the Capitol to Balamban town in northwestern Cebu if she wins the 2025 election.
Baricuatro explained that the relocation is “logistically improbable,” as constituents would have to travel up into the mountains for transactions.
“How can you serve the people best if you’re way up there? You should be the one reaching out to them, not them going up to you. So, if I will be governor, I would want to have a satellite office [in the] north and south but I don’t want to be there (Balamban), that place there and it’s not environmentally sustainable. Look at what’s being done to the mountain,” Baricuatro said in a news forum on Tuesday.
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Earlier this year, photos uploaded by Wiley Yray on Facebook stirred online debate, showing civil works on a mountain site.
The images led to speculation that the new Capitol was being built there, but the Cebu Provincial Government clarified that no construction of the Capitol had started. The activity in Barangay Cambuhawe was, instead, for a national road project.
“That development right now is not the provincial government. It is a DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) project,” said lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, a Capitol consultant.
Baricuatro said she would assess the project if elected.
“We’ll do a study on what we can do with that existing one. I don’t want to continue that one (transferring of the Capitol in Balamban),” she said.
Baricuatro on BRT
In addition to the new Capitol, Baricuatro commented on the halted operations of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project near the Capitol after Governor Gwen Garcia ordered a halt for heritage protection.
“This has been a fiasco, kaning BRT, and it’s not even a local project. I know it’s a national project. My goal really is to just get it over and get it done with. Finish it. After all, we’re paying loans for this,” she said.
Baricuatro added that if she wins, she would push for the contractor to complete the BRT, with adjustments made afterward to optimize it for the Capitol.
“But my biggest dream is really to have a major infrastructure program like subways. And I’ve seen the need from north to south, maybe from Carcar City to Danao City. It will really help in the economic activity of the province if we have such one,” she added. —with a report from Morexette Marie Erram
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