Activities Lined Up for Mega Cebu Month in September

To boost participation in and support for Mega Cebu, proponents and organizers lined up a series of activities for the Mega Cebu Month in September.

For the third annual celebration, the #MegaCebuPwedeKaayo campaign and its sub-campaigns, “Limpyo Cebu, Pwede Kaayo” and “Tuman Cebu, Pwede Kaayo”, were launched to emphasize that the simple acts of cleaning the surroundings and following traffic rules can help make Mega Cebu happen.

During the opening program on Sept. 1, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) President Roberto E. Aboitiz recalled how Mega Cebu started as a dream.

Mega Cebu envisions a wholesome, advanced, vibrant, equitable and sustainable (W.A.V.E.S.) Cebu by 2050. It promotes long-term and collaborative planning and action towards a more sustainable city-region in Cebu.

“Over the last four years, more things turned to positive. I would like to say that we have already achieved a significant number of milestones that have huge impact on Cebu. We manifest that what gets planned, get done,” said Aboitiz who also sits as co-chair for the private sector in the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board, the coordinating body for metro-wide planning and development.

One of the milestones includes the increase of awareness of the public about Mega Cebu. In 2014, according to Japan International Cooperation Agency, only 7% respondents in a face-to-face survey and 73% respondents in an online survey knew about Mega Cebu. These increased to 43% and 91%, respectively, in 2015.

To increase awareness and encourage people to act, Mega Cebu will hold competitions in the form of extemporaneous speaking, debate, Science projects, Most Outstanding Teacher, essay writing, slogan making and video making.

Club Mega, a group of young people actively supporting Mega Cebu, produced seven #MegaCebuPwedeKaayo videos on tourism, education, economy, governance, water conservation and traffic management. These will be played in theatres and establishments with TV used for public viewing.

Mega Cebu also organized forums, namely Youth Convention on Sept. 12, Land Forum on Sept. 15 and Vibrant Mega Cebu: A Painting Exhibition.

With the help of advertising and marketing consultant Carlos Castaño, it also launched an improved Mega Cebu website designed to communicate about the concept and vision simply and clearly.

For more information about Mega Cebu, visit www.megacebu.org. For updates about the Mega Cebu Month activities, like or follow Mega Cebu on www.facebook.com/megacebu2050, www.twitter.com/mega_cebu and www.instagram.com/megacebu, or call 418-7234 loc. 138 and look for Mitch or Jiri.