Governor’s difficult choice
-A A +ASaturday, January 5, 2013
THE seeming rush of creditors demanding immediate payment from the Capitol is a natural human reaction in the light of the uncertainty in the provincial government.
It does not necessarily prove that the bills were incurred by the Gwendolyn Garcia administration under questionable circumstances or that the suspended governor committed fiscal mismanagement in incurring them. The transactions could have only been above board, otherwise the creditors would just have written off their collectibles as losses instead of pressing Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale to process their vouchers and/or issue their checks.
I interviewed Garcia in Frankahay Ta! (101.9 FM, 6:30 to 9 a.m.) last Friday. Isn’t she worried that the stand-off at the Capitol could adversely affect her candidacy and that of her father and her brother, Pablo John, I asked. It has crossed her mind, she said. If she remains holed up in her office she wouldn’t be able to campaign. Neither would Pablo and PJ who have kept her company since her ordeal began.
But she is hoping that the courts would act on her petition to reverse her suspension with dispatch or at least before the campaign period begins. Note the reference to “courts” instead of just “court.” Garcia left no doubt about her intention to go all the way up to the Supreme Court if she is not satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Why doesn’t she just bring her case to the people? After all, they were the ones who gave her the mandate that she had vowed to uphold. Eventually, that is what is going to happen, she revealed. In the meantime, she will exhaust her legal remedies.
The CA has scheduled for oral arguments Garcia’s application for a temporary restraining order on Thursday, Jan. 10. If the court grants it, she will immediately be re-installed as governor because Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale has promised to step down in that event. Otherwise, she is faced with the difficult decision of choosing between remaining holed up in her office until her case is decided with finality or seeking relief directly from the people.
***
When I started my career in journalism as a cub reporter (first, with the Cebu News and Information Service and later, with The Freeman) in 1969, Vicente “Jun” Kintanar Jr. was already a byword in the broadcast industry. His news program at dyRC was very popular and his signature “This is Jun Kintanar reporting” sign-off functioned as an alarm clock for many people: it meant it was time to go to school or to work.
Despite his immense popularity, Jun remained very humble. I used to pinch-hit for the late Balt Quinain who wrote most of the news reports that Jun read and walked from The Freeman office all the way to dyRC (where Cebu Doctors University Hospital currently is) to deliver my news stories. I’m sure that they needed a lot of editing but I never heard Jun complain. And I was always paid the full amount for my labors.
Jun permanently signed off early morning last Friday. He went peacefully, his widow, Ma’am Lee and daughter Karla, told me. So very Jun Kintanar.
While I am sad that Jun would go at a time when I am just starting my own career in broadcast (which, by the way, he encouraged very enthusiastically), and thus left orphaned of his valuable input, I rest in the thought that the trail that he blazed is there for us to follow.
Godspeed, Jun. This is Frank Malilong Jr. reporting.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 06, 2013.
Opinion
Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent and respectful. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!
