I expect Gwen’s admission
-A A +ATuesday, September 18, 2012
GOV. Gwen Garcia should be candid enough to admit that the reason why she is not pursuing her senatorial bid is because of her poor ratings in various surveys and not because of the “appeal” of the town mayors allied with her One Cebu Party for her to stay in Cebu and seek a congressional seat in the third district instead.
The latest results released by Pulse Asia of a survey conducted last Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 with 1,200 respondents showed Gwen in the 25th slot. The winning circle only has 12 slots.
In that survey, the respondents were specifically asked: “Kung ang halalan sa 2013 ay isasagawa ngayon, sino-sino sa mga sumusunod na personalidad ang inyong iboboto kung sakali sila ay kakandidato sa pagkasenador? Puwede kayong pumili ng hanggang 12 pangalan.” Thirty-six names were shown to the respondents.
Topping in the list are Loren Legarda (67.3 percent), Chiz Escudero (61.2), Alan Peter Cayetano (49.9), JV Ejercito (49.9), Juan “Jack” Ponce Enrile Jr., (47.4), Antonio Trillanes (41.1), Gringo Honasan (40.6), Koko Pimentel (39.2), Migz Zubiri (37.4), Sonny Angara (35.9) and Cynthia Villar. Sharing the 12th to 17th places are Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Richard Gordon and Jamby Magdrigal.
The governor has been mum on speculations that she won’t pursue her senatorial bid.
Surprisingly, she has been evading the media, which is not her nature. Rather, it is her brother, third district Rep. Pablo John Garcia, who is answering queries from media. But Pablo John did not also confirm the rumors, although his pronouncements tended to support this scenario.
Pablo John said majority of their allies want Gwen to drop her senatorial bid and instead run for congresswoman so she can continue what she started. I expect Gwen's allies to come up with a manifesto in a few days urging her to stay in Cebu. The manifesto will then be used by Gwen in her formal announcement of her withdrawal. But as far as I can recall, these same mayors threw their support for the governor's senatorial bid.
Moingon dayon na si Gwen nga: “Si kinsa ba ako nga mobalibad sa hangyo sa mga mayor nga magpabilin ako dinhi sa Sugbo? Dili ako puwedeng magpakabutag-bungol sa ilang hangyo kay sila maoy akong kaabag sa pagpalambo sa Sugbo sukad pa kaniadto. Busa dili ko sila puwedeng balibaran. Busa magpapili ko pagkakongresista sa tersero distrito.”
Ingna kog bakakon kung dili ba ni mao ang tunada unya ni Gwen. Puwede sad niyang kompyahon ning maong linya. Atong atangan.
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There is a saying that “only fools do not change their minds.” Certainly, Mayor Michael Rama is not a fool. After repeatedly saying that he will not personally file a complaint against south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña on the latter's possession of two expensive cars that were supposedly donated to the Cebu City Government by Bigfoot Entertainment, the mayor has filed a complaint against his political rival before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas yesterday. And it was very dramatic. He marched with his supporters.
I have been prodding Mike about it since this issue cropped last week. I said it's better that he personally files the complaint because the ombudsman will be pressured to expedite its investigation. If we will just leave it to the anti-graft office, it will work at its pace.
This investigation will also give Tomas a chance to defend himself. The public perception is that Tomas violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 19, 2012.
Opinion
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