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.
About Me
- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
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- Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
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