Whose ‘country’ is Cebu? Forum to determine

Architect Manuel Tingzon Jr. shares efforts of the private sector to conserve and rehabilitate cultural heritage sites and structures in Iloilo City during the INQUIRER Town Hall at the UP Visayas Cinematheque. (Photo by John Nery/Inquirer.net)

Can a political party lay claim over Cebu which has the most number of electorate at 2.7 million?

This is one of the questions that will be asked during the INQUIRER Town Hall: Voices of the Visayas today at the Center for Teacher Excellence inside the Cebu Normal University campus along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City.

The forum, entitled “Whose ‘country’ is Cebu?” is part of the INQUIRER Group’s preparation for the Visayas-leg of the presidential debate on Sunday at the University of the Philippines Cebu.

On Thursday, INQUIRER Town Hall: Voices of the Visayas was in Iloilo City to discuss about the city’s economic progress.

Dubbed as “Iloilo Boom: Model or Mirage?” the forum was held at the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Cinematheque.

The forum in Iloilo was  hosted by the UP Alumni Association Iloilo chapter and was attended by around 60 students who are mostly from Central Philippine University, University of San Agustin, West Visayas State University and UPV.

The Cebu edition of the INQUIRER Town Hall will focus on local politics in relation to the outcome of the presidential elections.

The guests include Cebu Rep. Ace Durano of 5th district, campaign manager of presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe; and former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan and an ally of Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas.

Other panelists include Toledo City Mayor John Osmeña, a supporter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, and  two from the camps of presidential candidate and  Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte – lawyer Raymond Aquino and John Delfino, founder of DU30 movement and campaign/branding specialist.

The Cebu forum is done in partnership with Coalition for Better Education (CBE) and will be held at the Center for Teacher Excellence inside the Cebu Normal University.

The CBE is an organization composed of stakeholders from the academe, students, parents, government and nongovernment organization, and business organization that are committed in developing excellent and quality teachers in the country.

John Nery, editor in chief of Inquirer.net, would moderate the two-hour forum that would be attended by at least 100 students, teachers and supporters of the political parties.

Nery also moderated the Iloilo forum that brought together local economists, academe, urban poor leaders and heritage conservationist.

During the Iloilo forum, Joemarie Agriam, immediate past Western Visayas governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, credited the province’s continued growth mainly to remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) because foreign remittances of Ilonggo OFWs reached P12 billion in 2012.

Agriam said OFW remittances boosted the real estate industry as seen in fast-growing subdivisions and construction of large houses.

But he said there was still a need to strengthen the local economic base especially by enhancing small and medium manufacturing.

Urban poor group Kaisog said the massive infrastructure and development projects have not benefited informal settlers, small fishermen and vendors.

According to Vivian Asong, chairperson of Kaisog’s Metro Iloilo chapter, informal settlers affected by road widening and other development projects should be provided with adequate housing and livelihood assistance. /With a report from Inquirer