Cebu's Governor Gwen Garcia still holed up in the Capitol

Trouble in Cebu - Governor Gwen Garcia has been holed up in the Capitol over the holidays. The Court of appeals will decide the matter on Jan. 10 - read on:

Sunstar
by Flornisa M. Gitgano and Jujemay G. Awit
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
MAYORS of the different towns and cities will lead a prayer rally tomorrow to show sympathy and support to Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

The prayer rally will be held before the day of the oral argument set on Thursday for the petition of temporary restraining order filed by Garcia.

Garcia was suspended for six months by the Office of the President on the administrative case filed by late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez.

Garcia stayed in her office since Dec. 19, the day when the copy of the suspension order was posted in the door of her office in the Provincial Capitol.

Majority of the mayors of the towns and cities came to Garcia’s office yesterday to tell the governor that they will have a prayer rally in front of the Capitol.

The rally will be started with a mass at the Fuente Osmeña Circle at 3 p.m. then followed with a walk to the Capitol.

Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu, 4th district) said the prayer rally is to “provide the justices a good idea of what is really happening in the province.”

He said they prayed that “the justices will come out with an honest decision.”

Salimbangon said he cannot imagine the number of people who will participate in tomorrow’s rally.
“They should not prevent these people to come to the city to express their sentiment because this is the right of the people to assemble peacefully,” Salimbangon told
reporters.

As far as the mayors are concerned, they would only want the barangay officials to
join the rally, but they believe that more people will join the activity.
Last Dec.30, an estimated 5,000 people showed support to the governor through a prayer rally but most of them are residents of Cebu City. The constituents in the different towns were reportedly barred from going to the Capitol through checkpoints.

Loot
Daanbantayan Mayor Maria Luisa Loot said if only people were not prevented from going to the Capitol, there could have been more at the rally.

Salimbangon said they provided a formal request to the Police Regional Office to allow
the people to join the rally. He hoped that there will be no checkpoints tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the 25 barangay captains of Sibonga town visited the governor’s office to express their support.
The Associations of Barangay Councils of Sibonga passed a resolution to show their support to the duly elected governor.

Osmeña
In Cebu City, Rep. Tomas Osmeña (Cebu City, south) advised Acting Governor Agnes Magpale to focus on running the Cebu Provincial Capitol rather than be affected by the continued stay of suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia at the Capitol building.

Osmeña described Garcia, who has been suspended by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), as a “nuisance.”

The congressman said Garcia’s continued stay at the Capitol will actually be good for
the candidacy of lawyer Hilario Davide III, who is running for governor, and Pinamungahan Mayor Geraldine Yapha, who is running for Congress in the third district.

Davide and Yapha are members of the Liberal Party, while Magpale and Osmeña also had their certificates of candidacy signed by the same party.

“The more she (Garcia) stays there, the more she can’t campaign...good for Junjun
(Davide), good for Yapha,” said Osmeña.

The governor is running for congressman in the third district while incumbent Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu Province, 3rd district) is running for governor.
Osmeña, a critic of Garcia, said there are many advantages to the governor’s stay at the Capitol.
He said Magpale can make a hermit of Garcia by cutting off the water and electricity supply of the building and not allow her to use the standby generator.

As to the statements of Gov. Garcia and her brother Byron that the governor will be forcibly taken out of the Capitol building, Osmeña believes it is all “drama.”
He believes they will stage the governor’s exit and blame it on him.

Osmeña said it is more believable to blame him rather than Magpale and Davide because he fits the profile as the “butangiro” (slugger).

“Gwen is making a fool of herself and Byron is adding to this perception,” Osmeña also said as Byron also announced a possible riot at the provincial jail if her sister will be bodily removed from the building.
Osmeña also commented that Mayor Michael Rama may have the right to order PNP Regional Office (PRO) 7 Chief Marcelo Garbo to remove the barricades at the Capitol building as chief executive except that the mayor is partisan.

The congressman believes that the order would have been valid if Rama and Gov. Garcia have no alliance. Both belong to the United Nationalist Alliance.