RESIGNED Cebu City councilor Hilario “Junjun” Davide III and Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. yesterday declared their candidacies as governor and vice governor, respectively.

With their battle cry, United Cebu, they will run under the Liberal Party (LP) and hope to deliver a clean and honest governance.

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Meanwhile, One Cebu is set to announce today its official slate, including Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s running mate for the 2010 elections.

One Cebu’s convention, which will be highlighted by the announcement of bets from the mayors up to the presidential candidate, will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

The names of Provincial Board members, an incumbent mayor and a former mayor were floated as Gwendolyn’s running mate, but Capitol Consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda refused to give any confirmation last night.

United Cebu, for its part, does not have a complete slate yet.

But Davide said his edge over Garcia is his “sincerity to serve and integrity.”

Sanchez, for his part, said he will “make Cebu as the next Tiger City” with his technical expertise in civil engineering.

He also took his oath as LP member with Davide, provincial chairman of the party, officiating.

Davide said the controversial purchase of the Balili property and the CICC are two issues that they can use against Garcia.

Sanchez, who used to be Garcia’s ally until their recent spat, said that the actual surplus of the province is not P2 billion but only P400 million to P500 million based on what he learned from Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre.

However, Salubre refuted Sanchez’s claim.

He claimed that sometime in September this year, Sanchez asked him about the Capitol’s surplus.

He told the vice governor that as of September, the surplus was at P400 million to P600 million but said that the figure could still rise.

Salubre said that maybe Sanchez “just didn’t get it.”

Terms

He said that most people get confused with the terms “surplus” and “cash availability.”

“Surplus” for the year, he said, would mean “available for appropriation next year plus estimated income next year” while “cash availability represents the total cash of the province.”

Asked about LP’s platform, Davide admitted that they don’t have a platform yet and they may be drafting it after they will file their certificates of candidacy on Sunday after a mass.

Sought for comment, Sepulveda said that the administration can “understand” why LP still does not have a platform because “there is an apparent conflict of ideas and personalities within the LP.”

Davide, he added, is also surrounded by people who do not represent “new politics.”

“But now, unfortunately for him, he is now associating himself with Greg Sanchez, (former senator) Sonny Osmeña, the Martinezes, Yaphas and Gungobs. These are not new politics. 

That’s why I can understand that because of this, he has to stop, recollect and try to harmonize on his original position,” he said.

As to the campaign slogan of LP, Sepulveda hopes that “United Cebu” does not mean a subservient province to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

“Because ang ila gusto siguro pasabot is, United ang Cebu kung subservient sila kang Tomas. If that is United Cebu for them, I’m sorry. I’m a Cebuano. That’s not ‘United Cebu’ for me. We will never allow that the province be subservient to the whims and caprices of a single person who perceives himself to be the ‘almighty one’ for Cebu City,” he added. (RSA)