Stop the Cebu toilet fees now!

When nature calls, it should not cost P10 to answer—especially not in a province whose previous governor proudly claims to be the richest in the country.

- Atty. Ruphil Bañoc

Yet this is exactly what the Cebuanos experience when passing through our bus terminals. At the Cebu North Bus Terminal (CNBS), there are no free comfort rooms. At the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT), the so-called “free” CRs are abandoned, broken, and useless which is equivalent to having no free CRs at all. Commuters are left with no choice but to pay.

This burden stems from a toilet fee collection deal entered into by former Governor Gwen Garcia and Mister Loo Philippines. For many commuters, especially the poor, it is a daily hardship. Imagine a mother travelling with four children, all needing to use the toilet. That's P50 gone--not for food, not for drinks, not even for fare, but for a basic bodily necessity.

Let's be candid: this is an act of no mercy to the maximum level. It is deeply ironic that the former governor boasts that Cebu is the richest province in the country yet cannot provide its people with a basic, free restroom in a public terminal.