Cebu City’s popular landmark ‘Fuente Osmeña to get facelift

By Fayette C. Riñen

CEBU CITY, May 10 (PIA) ---  An integral part of Cebu City’s past and one of its oldest landmarks, the renowned Fuente Osmeña, will get a facelift as the Cebu City Government embarks on a beautification campaign to showcase its historical significance. 

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama together with Gov. Gwen Garcia last week led a unity walk to kick off the beautification project of Fuente Osmeña which needed P50M for its beautification efforts.

Part of its beautification plan is to restore the sidewalks within the Osmeña Boulevard, where a mammoth number of vendors dot along the sides otherwise reducing the already small passageway as the mayor promised a relocation site within the area for the vendors so as not to disrupt their livelihood. 

Rama said sacrifices have to be made but that street vendors would be taken cared of as their support and cooperation is needed in promoting the city’s culture and history through the beautification project.

The chairman of the Cebu Beautification Movement, Inc., Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung, has aimed for a zero vendor around the Fuente Osmeña circle and along the boulevard.

Several establishments in the area have expressed their support to the project and committed to spruce up their building for an appearance depicting the Spanish colonial era. Two financial establishments along Osmeña Boulevard, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Banco de Oro, have promised to beautify their own front yards, this is reported.

The project has gotten the appreciative nod of local business groups as the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce have pledged financial support to jump start the beautification efforts.

Any financial donation made to the project will be posted at the city government’s website for transparency, this is said.

Even Gov. Garcia has recognized the value of the project saying it is part of the province’s thrust to promote and showcase Cebu’s rich cultural history assuring that Capitol will provide assistance to realize the project.

Fuente Osmeña is often described as the ‘Heart of Cebu’ with its strategic location at the center ofCebu City. It was built in honor of Cebu’s Grand Old Man, the late President Sergio Osmeña. Its literal meaning ‘Fountain of Osmeña,’ refers to the fountain built in commemoration of the foundation of the city’s first waterworks system in 1923.

Its historical significance cannot be discounted as the fountain inside the Fuente Osmeña Circle is seen at the right side of the P50-peso bill with the face of the late Pres. Osmeña at the center of the same bill.

To this date, the Fuente Osmeña Rotunda remains a venue for a cause as cultural shows, nightly festivities during the Sinulog Mardi Gras, promotional events and even protest rallies are held inside the circle. (PIA 7-Cebu)