Cebu Daily News Rewind 2015 (Part 3)

The SM Seaside City in South Road Properties.

TWO turnovers — a spacious pavilion to be used for the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress  and a fleet of European-made  buses to be operated by retail giant SM with a Manila-based partner to bring customers to and from its SM Seaside City Mall at the South Road Properties (SRP) – helped wrap up the last two months of 2015.

The multi-million peso pavilion built by contractor Duros Development Corp. will house the 15,000 foreign and domestic delegates who will  attend the 51st IEC, a historic  Catholic Church gathering of the faithful including  all Philippine bishops from Jan. 24 to 31.

The international flavor  spills over to Cebu City’s 2016 Sinulog where parades will feature dancers wearing the traditional costume of foreign countries attending the IEC while traffic and security preparations are now being finalized for the event.

The design for a terminal of the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System.

SM My Bus units started operating in November ahead of the SM Seaside City Mall’s opening on Nov. 27 amid opposition from local transport groups who feared that the fleet of buses will eat into their income.

Initially offering the rides for free, SM MyBus now charges passengers using a card system similar to the Light Railway Transit (LRT) system in Manila. The bus fleet is hailed as a dry run for the Bus Rapid  Transit (BRT) system to be implemented in Cebu City two years from now.

While the country was  outraged by the  “tanim-bala (bullet planting) scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport—Mactan Cebu airport authorities confidentially explained that no complaints of extortion  bothered Cebu because passengers who carried spent bullets — mostly amulets— were routinely told to surrender the items, and claim them later after the flight.

The ‘Never Again’ billboard that was first installed at the Cebu International Convention Center soon had another one sprouting at the South Coastal Road on barangay Tanke Talisay City. Both were taken down after much controversy over its less-than-transparent owners.

A fire accident in the home-based shop of a butane cannister refiller in Cebu City spurred a renewed government campaign against the fire hazard, but the sale of cheap cooking fuel in tins remains a mainstream supply for low-income households.

November also saw campaign intramurals between the Liberal Party (LP) Cebu chapter and the One Cebu party of the Garcias, who objected to a giant  “Never Again” banner spread across the facade of the dilapidated Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

One Cebu gubernatorial candidate Winston Garcia and his runningmate former congresswoman Nerissa Soon-Ruiz question hospital services and other transactions of the Capitol.

Two other political developments  came into play in December—the strafing of an LP vice mayoral candidate’s vehicle in Dumanjug town and the resulting pursuit that ended in the deaths of two suspects by police and the sudden 60-day suspension of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama for removing a barangay’s  center island as a safety hazard.

Last ditch attempts were made to pass the Rama administration’s Supplemental Budget 1 but the Osmena majority bloc prevailed.    A post-Christmas fire left 240 families homeless in sitio Avocado, barangay Lahug. Cebu City city started reblocking the fire site to allow them to return. UP Cebu moved in to try to fence 4,000 square meters of its now-cleared land. Negotiations for relocation spilled over into the New year, 2016.