Planned flyovers send nuns praying down Cebu streets

PLANS to build a network of flyovers in Cebu City to ease traffic have prompted dawn processions by opponents, including nuns, whose property would be affected by the development.

Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul nuns in gray habits quietly mingled with churchgoers in a dawn procession down Gorordo Avenue on Oct. 29 in the fifth in a series of Saturday actions praying for “divine aid” and the “enlightenment” of public officials to stop the flyover project.

“We will not stop until the flyovers are stopped and a transport master plan for Cebu is made.  We will continue to pray publicly,” said Louella Alix, a Gorordo shop owner and member of the Movement for a Liveable Cebu that is leading the lobby against additional flyovers.

A planned flyover affecting the avenue is among a network of seven flyovers envisioned by Cebu City House Representative Rachel del Mar to improve Cebu traffic.

Cebu architect Melva Java told opponents since the project on Gorordo Avenue will cause loss of clear view of the 70-year-old Asilo dela Medalya Milagrosa orphanage compound and its Shrine of the Miraculous Medal they could appeal to the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

NCCA could issue a cease-and-desist order to halt construction based on a law that ensures the conservation and preservation of monuments and structures of “important heritage value.” These include structures that are more than 50 years old.

Asilo dela Milagrosa was established in the 1940s as a charity house for orphans and abandoned babies.  The church was later built in 1954.

Asilo is set to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal on Nov. 17 to 28. The feast, which will draw crowds of Marian devotees to the church so Del Mar in asking the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to reset the start of work from November to February 2012. The nuns have asked for a moratorium on all flyovers.

Alix said that after the feast day, the dawn procession or “aurora” for the special intention of the flyover project will run for nine Saturdays.

The DPWH central office last week ordered all work on flyovers “held in abeyance” indefinitely in the wake of objections from various groups, including urban planners and traffic managers who said flyovers were a costly “Band-Aid” solution.

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