Cebu guv doubts 96T margin

CEBU CITY -- She won a fresh mandate, but Governor Gwendolyn Garcia admitted she "expected more."

"But you see, there are a lot of questions cropping up in certain areas where I supposedly lost. I'm not saying this for my own benefit, even the electorate is asking," said the governor in a press conference Wednesday.

Click here for Election 2010 updates

Garcia lost in most of the first district, where her party One Cebu forged an alliance with the dominant district party Alayon, led by Representative Eduardo Gullas. She won in the second, third, fourth and fifth districts, but lost in the sixth district.

Garcia said she will analyze the results, but will leave that for another day. She was proclaimed Wednesday night, along with the province's seven congressmen, all of whom are her political allies.

Among those proclaimed were her father, Representative Pablo Garcia (Cebu, second district) and brother, Representative Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, third district).

In a press conference hours before the proclamation, the governor and lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, One Cebu spokesperson and legal counsel, revealed they received reports of faulty compact flash (CF) cards.

One report said a CF card reflected only one vote in one barangay, while there was another report that the election result was different from the transmitted results.

Asked for comment, lawyer Democrito Barcenas, leader of the Ninoy-Mar Movement and a supporter of gubernatorial candidate Hilario Davide III, just laughed.

"So the winner will now file a protest?" asked Barcenas.

In a conversation with Representative Benhur Salimbangon, Garcia questioned how her votes did not match those of her father in Dumanjug. The elder Garcia received 14,948 votes while the governor got 13,084.

She also questioned the slim margin she got in Medellin, when incumbent Mayor Ricardo Ramirez and Vice Mayor Michael Miranda are both allied with One Cebu.

Governor Garcia called this election the dirtiest she has experienced.

"They've done their worst against me from Tomas (Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña) the bully; a retired chief justice (Hilario Davide Jr.) whom I have lost all respect for; and his son, who was running in the name of the father; and I'm still standing with a lead of over 90,000 votes," she said.

Majority of the newly proclaimed mayors are also allied with Lakas and One Cebu.

Garcia, in Wednesday's press conference, also showed two fliers "vilifying" her. One comic strip shows the governor on a plane hovering above the Balili property in the City of Naga, with the label: "Welcome to Balili, the only underwater resort in the Philippines."

Similar taunts appear in a group of large signs, ordered by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, in the Cebu City-owned South Road Properties.

Garcia, however, said she remains open to working with Cebu City mayor elect Michael Rama "if he will be sane and decent, if he will be his own self...Anybody would be better than Tomas."

When asked why she lost respect for the elder Davide, Garcia said, "I had not expected him to stoop to certain low levels in this campaign. I have instructed all our people to hold their punches, even not to bring up the real reason for the impeachment case against him."

Barcenas, while denying that LP was behind the propaganda against Garcia, said the Capitol's purchase of the Balili property for about P98 million is a valid issue.

"It is an issue of graft and corruption that is hounding both the local and national level," said Barcenas.

"She lost in the first district where the Balili is situated. Even in Carcar City, where the two mayoral candidates are supporting Gwen, Davide won. We did not even have a local candidate there," said Barcenas.

"That is not black propaganda, that is a valid issue," he said.

Meanwhile, a reelected mayor from Cebu Province's first congressional district denied speculations Representative Eduardo Gullas and his political leaders junked Governor Garcia and Senator Manny Villar.

"In fairness to the good congressman, there was no such an instruction to drop the two. He instead appealed to us to campaign hard for them," said newly-reelected City of Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong.

Both Garcia and Villar, the Nacionalista Party's presidential candidate, lost in the first district.

The biggest margin in the district for lawyer Hilario "Junjun" Davide III over Governor Garcia was in Talisay City, where he got 38,889 over Garcia's 31,108.

In the City of Naga, Davide won with 19,308 votes, over Garcia's 17,887.

Garcia won in the first district in 2004 and 2007, each time by more than 10,000 votes.

Chiong said they were surprised by the results in the gubernatorial and presidential races in Naga and the rest of the first district.

Villar was no match for Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, whose margin in the district's cities and towns averaged 10,000 votes, despite Gullas's endorsement of Villar.

"I believe the silent majority got swayed by the Cory magic despite our appeals to vote for Villar," said Chiong, referring to the late former President Corazon Aquino.

He said it's a good idea to file an election protest and go over the results, "just to ascertain the results and erase any doubts."

Meanwhile, reelected Representative Pablo John Garcia (Cebu Province, 3rd district) defended the governor against speculations her margin was smaller than expected because of her quick temper, which her rivals have criticized.

"She is not violent," the congressman said of his sister. "But her temper is legendary. She is very impatient because she wants things done. So, if you look around the Province of Cebu, you can see that she has done a lot of things. That's partly because of her temperament."

He added the governor cannot stand to see a poorly done job.

"That's part of her personality and she has used that to her advantage and to the benefit of the people, because those who don't want to make her angry had better shape up," he said. (JGA/With EOB and GC/Sun.Star Cebu)