Team Rama backs Metro Cebu board; gov bets bare agenda
Team Rama candidates led by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama share their programs and visions during the Mega Decisions forum. (CDN Photos/Junjie Mendoza)
Team Rama candidates vowed to support the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB) and its plans for Metro Cebu in yesterday’s Mega Decisions 2016 forum organized by Mega Cebu.
The same forum also featured gubernatorial and vice gubernatorial candidates led by One Cebu’s Winston Garcia.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, running mate Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and Garcia’s running mate Nerissa Soon-Ruiz as well as KBL gubernatorial candidate Boy Lido Patalinghug (KBL) were unable to make it due to scheduling conflicts.
During the forum, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said the MCDCB would be the bridge between the local government units (LGU) and the private sector in preparing and implementing more integrated projects and programs.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo, who is running for Cebu City’s south district, said he wanted to develop a unified program of action for the entire island of Cebu through MCDCB.
MCDCB is a consortium of 13 cities and towns including the cities of Cebu, Carcar, Naga, Talisay, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Danao, and the towns of San Fernando, Minglanilla, Cordova, Consolacion, Liloan, and Compostela.
Gubernatorial candidates share their programs and visions during the Mega Decisions forum. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Former mayor Alvin Garcia, who is running for the city’s north district, said he will encourage the participation of local barangay councils in the coordinating board.
They also vowed to provide solutions to the water crisis.
When asked to elaborate, Rama declined and asked the public instead to vote for Team Rama’s entire slate.
“It will be easier if they will give us 11-0 win,” he said.
Meanwhile, traffic and economic growth were the focus of the platforms of gubernatorial candidates.
Independent Boyet Cortes, who ran but lost in 2013, said traffic has become a big problem due to poor urban planning.
If elected governor, Cortes said he intends to build a 180-kilometer “super-super highway” through the mountains from Santander, the southernmost town, to Daanbantayan, the northernmost town of mainland Cebu.
The project is similar to the Trans-Axial Highway proposed by the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez.
Cortes also proposed eco-agro-tourism-industrial zones in the province to generate jobs in the countryside and decongest the metropolis.
Another independent candidate, former overseas worker Desiderio Estinozo, said he would put up desalination plants in the province to ensure water supply and institutionalize tree planting activities.
For his part, Garcia said he would prioritize the appropriation of funds for the second runway at the Mactan Cebu International Airport and for commercial airports in northern Cebu.
He will also ask the President to issue an executive order directing the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct a detailed engineering study on a proposed Light Railway Transit System and a reclamation project to create a new “city” within a city.
Asked whether they were in favor of shared governance, or the cooperation between the public and private sectors, all candidates said they were.
But Garcia said he believed there would be no need to create a new office to solve the problems Metro Cebu is facing.
“I don’t believe that the solution to our problems is creating a bureaucracy through another office. Whenever we have a problem, we create a new office. It’s this mentality that’s causing inefficiency in government,” Garcia said.
He declined to comment on the proposed Metro Cebu Development Authority, saying he will have to study the bill first.
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