THEY say a deal isn’t sealed until the ink is dry. Well, in the case of Friday’s joint-venture contract signing for the Cebu-Cordova toll bridge project, there was some concern that the ink would not make contact with paper at all.
The bridge was proposed by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. It was considered an all-around good idea since it would decongest Cebu’s two other bridges and alleviate traffic in the fast-growing metropolis whose packed roads can almost approximate those in Metro Manila on certain hours (this is no exaggeration).
The contract signing between Metro Pacific and local government unit heads led by Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was set on 10 a.m. on April 15.
A little allowance is always granted in such events, given everyone’s busy schedules, and by noon, everyone who needed to be there was there—except Mayor Rama.
Lunch was offered to the hungry guests and even as the plates were being cleared and Cebu’s famous lechon reduced to bones, still no mayor.
By 2 p.m., it was decided that the contract needed to be signed since some of Metro Pacific’s officials were scheduled to fly out that afternoon. A ceremony was held, leaving a space blank for the mayor’s signature before some officials had to leave on a jet plane.
To make a long story short, Mayor Rama did appear past 4 p.m to sign the document. The cleared hall was again filled with chairs and a tarpaulin trumpeting the project—not available hours before, apparently—was installed as well.
He entered the hall, briefly chatted with the Metro Pacific officials who decided to postpone their flights, and signed the contract before a brisk exit.
To be fair to the good mayor, it hasn’t been the best week following a suspension order initiated against Rama and Cebu City officials by Malacañang over alleged irregularities in the release of Typhoon Yolanda funds.
(Rama, an ally of Vice President and Presidential aspirant Jejomar Binay, and other officials can keep their posts after the Commission on Elections decided to defer any decision on Malacañang’s request until after the elections).
All things considered, it wasn’t the worst kind of delay that Metro Pacific has faced. The company has dealt with six-year delays for its connector road project and the turnover of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. Compared to those, six hours sounds like a blink of an eye. Miguel R. Camus
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