Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia told SunStar Cebu Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, that the City Government is also open to the possibility of having a competition to determine the best architectural design for the new City Hall.
The proposed budget for the new executive building is around P400 million, while another P400 million has been allocated for the new legislative building.
“I will request the mayor and ako sad, mo-form mi og (we will form a) committee as to the design of the new executive and legislative building nga atoang sugdan og tukod (that we will start building) next year,” said Garcia.
According to Garcia, the current City Hall building in Barangay Sto. Niño will be converted into the Cebu City Museum to preserve the culture and heritage of the Cebuanos.
Mayor Michael Rama also recently said the proposed museum would be similar to the Smithsonian Institute in the United States of America.
In a recent interview, Cebu City Planning and Development Office head Joseph Michael “Yumi” Espina said a seven-hectare property in the SRP had been identified as the possible location of the new City Hall.
Espina, an architect, said aside from housing the City’s departments and divisions, the proposed City Hall will also serve as a complex for other national government agencies.
He said the new City Hall will become a “one-stop shop” for all government services, allowing faster transactions and providing more convenience to the transacting public.
Aside from the new City Hall building, the City has also proposed to spend P100 million for the construction of the Cebu City College.
Garcia said the planned site for the school building will be at the Ramos Public Market located in Barangay Cogon-Ramos.
The vice mayor said he will have to present the proposed budget and defend it before the City Council during the budget hearing.
In April 2019, then mayoral candidate Edgardo Labella, standard bearer of the Barug PDP-Laban, had voiced plans to establish the Cebu City College.
Then mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was running for reelection, replied by saying he would continue instead the City’s college scholarship program that he had started during his previous term as mayor.
The scholarship program provides tuition and academic and school supply assistance to college students who graduated in any public high school in the city. Students from mountain barangays get an additional transportation allowance.
Labella was unable to fulfill his campaign promise to build the college after the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic struck in 2020 and forced a reallocation of the City’s resources, and he himself succumbed to a lingering illness in November 2021. (IRT)