The Cebu Provincial Board, in today’s regular session, have adopted two resolutions recommending a halt to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project along Osmeña Boulevard in front of the Provincial Capitol Building for two reasons: economic losses and heritage protection. 

Sixth district Board Member Glenn Anthony Soco, who chairs the PB’s committee on trade and industry; and third district Board Member Atty. Jiembo Borgonia, chairman of the committee on provincial properties, authored the said resolutions which were passed en masse by the 18-member legislative body of the provincial government. 

BM Soco said the BRT project contributes to the worsening traffic condition not only in Cebu City but even in the province, as it would cause traffic jams in going to and from the southern part of Cebu. 

“We are not adding more roads and road spaces. We are simply subtracting road spaces,” BM Soco said. “The traffic situation, as what we can see now, is already a glimpse of what the traffic situation will be when the project is completed,” he said, adding that this would necessarily mean economic losses for both public and private sectors. 

Instead of becoming the solution, the BRT project — which have been abandoned by other countries that had implemented it for its utter failure — will be the source of traffic woes since its dedicated bus lanes will force jeepneys, motorcycles, private vehicles to share the already constricted road. 

“Nobody can categorically tell us when it (BRT project) will be completed, yet the inconveniences remain piled up and even worsen day after day,” the board member said. 

“The question remains: how much more economic losses do we have to experience, to suffer, and endure? How many more cancelled meetings, late mornings coming to work? Thousands and even millions of pesos lost in logistical and transportation expenses considering the rising of fuel prices?” he added. 

HERITAGE PROTECTION

BM Borgonia, for his part, said that the approved resolution seeks the stoppage of the BRT project along Osmeña Blvd due to its “adverse effect on the scenic beauty of the Capitol Building” which was declared a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. 

Moreover, its bus stations would also destroy the supposedly unhampered Vista Corridor from the Capitol, Osmeña Boulevard, and Fuente Osmeña Circle, and that the project did not undergo prior consultation with and approval from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in accordance with RA 11961, or the “National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009.”

As provided by law, important cultural and historical landmarks such as the Capitol building, Osmeña Blvd, and Fuente Osmeña Circle are protected by a 200-meter heritage buffer zone.

The Provincial Board also approved a resolution inviting officials of Department of Transportation to enlighten the legislative body about the BRT project in an upcoming regular session. | Jude Torres