VICTOR Miñoza Buendia, barangay councilor of Labangon, succeeded in getting a temporary restraining order that stopped the conduct of a plebiscite on the formation of a new barangay out of Sitios Banawa and Englis from Barangay Guadalupe.
Buendia claimed that Rosalina Village, where he resides, is part of Labangon, not Banawa. The plebiscite will allow the formation of a new barangay to continue and thus make the village part of Banawa. He said this will cause “irreparable injury.”
Friends who live near Rosalina Village said Buendia actually plans to run for barangay captain of Labangon. Buendia apparently thinks he cannot do so anymore if his place of residence becomes part of the new Barangay Banawa-Englis.
However, somebody should ask Buendia if it’s true that he won the post of barangay councilor when he lived in a house on Salvador St. in Labangon. That was before he transferred to Rosalina Village.
According to Buendia, Rosalina Village is actually part of Labangon.
During those younger activist days when I used to walk through various shortcuts to get to the house of former Bayan Cebu head Zenaida Uy, I often passed by Rosalina Village. And I could still remember that some of the residence numbers posted at the gates of some houses clearly stated Guadalupe. It caught my attention because it made me realize how big Barangay Guadalupe was.
I grew up in a community bounded by B. Rodriguez and Waling-Waling Streets and I very well knew that Espina Village, across the Guadalupe River, was already part of Barangay Guadalupe.
After the Rosalina Village controversy emerged last week, I recalled those days when I first thought Rosalina Village as part of Guadalupe and Banawa.
Going through my junk of old documents, I came across this piece of city legislation approved by all councilors in 1996 yet, on the planned split of Guadalupe during the time of Mayor Alvin Garcia. The document clearly mentioned Rosalina Village as part of Banawa and Guadalupe.
A more recent map drawn up based on barangay boundary monuments placed during the Spanish period also clearly showed Rosalina Village as part of Banawa and Guadalupe. This map was used as basis for Republic Act (RA) 9905 or “The Act Creating a Barangay to be known as Barangay Banawa-Englis.”
This made me conclude that Buendia has actually erred in his claim. If he wants Rosalina Village to be part of Barangay Labangon, he needs to question the location of the barangay boundary monuments and move to have RA 9905 and Ordinance 1661 declared unconstitutional. Otherwise, two pieces of legislations actually declared Rosalina Village part of Banawa and Guadalupe.
Then, we need to ask Buendia about the timing. Why go to court only when the plebiscite for the creation of Barangay Banawa-Englis was only days away? Did he not know that the City Council actually considered Rosalina Village part of Banawa-Englis way back 1996?
The way I look at it, when Banawa-Englis becomes a barangay, Buendia actually could either opt to leave Rosalina Village and transfer to a place well within Labangon. Or he could run to become the barangay captain of Banawa-Englis.
As of the moment, he is helping the cause of Guadalupe Barangay Captain Jingjing Faelnar against splitting Guadalupe. Some coffee shop pundits say this has something to do with losing jurisdiction of the Banawa cockpit and market.
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Is there really a crack in Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan or BOPK? South district congressional candidate Alvin Garcia thinks so. We just saw last week Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s sharp retort to Vice Mayor Mike Rama’s statement on cooperating with Gov. Gwen Garcia.
But then, ugly cracks in political alliances could be painted with unity. The trick is in swaying public perception. Deft handling of the media could very well make Cebuanos believe that the unity paint is the truth and not the reality that is hidden.
Besides, Osmeña needs the support of the Ramas in the south district. Mike Rama also needs the support of the whole BOPK machinery to win in the whole city.
Yet Tomas has made us recall one ugly truth. Rama caused the rift between Cebu City and the Province of Cebu that threw a monkey wrench on development projects and the bid of 93-1 beneficiaries to own the land they have been residing in for decades.
Being the cause of the rift, could Rama actually be instrumental in repairing it? Alvin said Rama could not even solve the simple Miss Cebu 2009 controversy. However, a Garcia cousin at the helm of Cebu City Hall representing the 93-1 beneficiaries could actually soften the governor’s heart.
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