2 ‘false’ ideas on splitting Guadalupe

THE long-delayed plan to divide Guadalupe, Cebu City into two barangays will finally be voted upon next July 28 in a plebiscite. Before that, two “fallacies” need to be shot down:

-- Splitting the barangay will result into its downfall;

-- Incumbent city officials must not meddle in the campaign.

The first carries the cliche “United we stand, divided we fall.” It rests on the falsehood that Guadalupe, obese and unwieldy as it has become, must keep its size or fail.

The second assumes that “intervention” by political leaders will taint the barangay folk’s choice.

Both fail in logic and are thus deceptive.

Guadalupe is not under a common enemy’s siege that must be resisted with all its land, resources and people. It is not like “Sugbuak,” the 2007 plot that aimed to cut up Cebu into four provinces for rival politicians’ fiefdoms.

Creating Banawa-Englis from Guadalupe is plain good sense. The barangay has just grown so large that governing it can no longer be efficient.

Compelling

The Catholic Church saw the need in 1988 when it created the new parish serving Banawa-Englis. The City Council passed in 1996 the separation ordinance but a lawsuit aborted scheduled plebiscites, including Tony Cuenco’s initiative in Congress. Shifting political interests and feuds delayed it further.

The same public officials who pushed the idea before cannot keep off it now. They said starting 16 years ago that we need to split Guadalupe. The need is even more compelling now.

(The writer lives in Banawa, Guadalupe.)

[paseares@sunstar.com.ph]