THIS past Tuesday, June 23, The Manila Times held a business forum at the Radisson Blu hotel in Cebu City to explore the business and economic opportunities, challenges and prospects for the Philippines’ second-largest city and its surrounding province and region. This was the first time we had an event in Cebu. I found it quite enlightening and valuable, and it seemed to be well-received; I hope we will do it again.
In our various events, I have become accustomed to getting a lot of attention, if for no other reason than I am usually the biggest (and if I may say so, usually the best-dressed) person in the room, but the reaction I got from the people in Cebu was both surprising and delightful. Prior to departing for Cebu, I had written a column specifically directed to our forum audience, one that was not entirely upbeat, and not intended to be (“Not all smiles and sunshine in Cebu,” June 23). I have not had such a response to one of my commentaries in a long time. As one illustration of what my day was like, after breakfast on Tuesday, I encountered a gentleman who gave me a puzzled look and then said, “You look like Ben Kritz.”
“I am, in fact, Ben Kritz,” I replied.
“I just read your column,” the man, an official with the Cebu IT-BPM Organization (CIB.O), said, brandishing a copy of that morning’s The Manila Times. “Good insights, and you explained the issues in a good way. See you at the forum.”
He was not the only one, as it turned out. I get a little starstruck when people I do not know come up to me and say, “Oh! I read your column,” and want to shake my hand, or get a picture with me, or in a couple of cases on Tuesday, ask for an autograph. The realization that anyone reads my work and has thought about it (whether they agree with me or not) is astonishing and awe-inspiring to me, no matter how long I’ve done this. The day I lose that feeling of wonder will be the day I quit.
I also received several emails from people in Cebu, and this is the point of this entire column today. One of my correspondents, whose name I will not share to protect him from any negative reaction he might receive, offered something that made me think deeply. He wrote:
“Congratulations for expressing your observations clearly and straightforwardly. But I’m sure you were staying in a 4- or 5-star hotel; thus, you were not able to see and witness how untidy the city is, especially in the early morning, you can witness dozens and dozens of people sleeping on the sidewalks and where some of our pedestrian skywalks are transformed into open toilets.
“How I wish Cebu is as clean or cleaner than Iloilo. How I wish our road networks were as wide as in Bacolod. But sad to say, as we say it in Cebuano, ‘wala pa ma tawo ang giapabot nato nga lider sa Cebu, be it for Cebu City or province.’
“However, I don’t stop dreaming and hoping that Cebu will finally have a leader who has a strong and clear vision, a firm political will and charisma who will transform Cebu City as the ‘City of the Future.’ But as of June 24, 2026, we cannot see him or her yet.”
That struck a chord with me, because he was right. One cannot pretend to understand the nature of a city by dropping in for a couple of days and experiencing the best that said city has to offer. I am aware of this, and I did try to acknowledge it during the discussion sessions I moderated at the forum. What our presenters were offering was how Cebuano business people see themselves, and there is a difference between that and how the outside world sees the environment in Cebu. By sharing those differing insights, we can perhaps all learn something.
I appreciated my email correspondent for picking up on that, so I asked him, “As a Cebuano, what do you feel are the top problems or challenges Cebu City and the province of Cebu need to solve?”
This is what he had to say, though I have edited it a bit for space:
Worsening traffic
“This problem started as early as 2010, and there were initial plans to have LRT or MRT or new bridges. [Sixteen] years passed; nothing happens. Even during the times of Gwen Garcia, not a single concrete infrastructure was done. The planned four-lane circumferential road around Mactan island is still a dream.”
Cleanliness
“If you walk from Plaza Independencia to the Cebu Provincial Capitol, a 2.8-kilometer main thoroughfare, you cannot find even one garbage bin or public comfort room. If I am the mayor of Cebu, or Mandaue, or Lapu-Lapu, or Talisay, I will call all the wives of the mayors, plus the wives of all barangay captains in these areas, to come up with the best cleanliness drive and beautification program. There will be an annual competition as to the cleanest barangay. No one ever thought of these ideas. How I wished you saw the very sad state of the creeks and esteros in Cebu City. Also, there are so many [abandoned] and dilapidated buildings and houses; why not impose penalties to the owners, as these are not only eyesores, but fire hazards as well.”
Poverty
“Both the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu tolerated the proliferation of hundreds of shanties along the Mactan Channel. This also is copied in Cebu City. Why tolerate them?”
Tourist attractions
“Manila has a lot to see and to discover. But if you are a tourist, especially a non-Christian tourist visiting Cebu, if I am a tourist guide, where shall I bring you? To Magellan’s Cross, Basilica Sto. Nino, Simala, Fort San Pedro, ancestral houses? Maybe I will bring the tourist to Oslob town for whale watching? That’s 116 kilometers down south, but due to traffic congestion and poor roads, this will take over three hours.”
He added one final thought: “If I may add, we need a new breed of political leaders, not the recycled ones who came from the same old families. What Cebu needs are leaders with [a] clear vision, with strong political will, who can discipline the people and transform Metro Cebu and the province into what it should be. Where is he or she? Nobody knows.”
Bluesky: @benkritz.bsky.social
Website: www.badmannersgunclub.com