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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Brilliant idea, says Lito; untenable, says LMP head
Former governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña described the proposal of the Tuburan town council to abolish Cebu Province a “brilliant idea.”
In a letter addressed to Councilor Reyelio Delute and members of the Tuburan Municipal Council and faxed to Sun.Star Cebu, Osmeña congratulated the council, and said that “having been a governor, I have often wondered what the logic is of having so much (duplication) in government.”
He said taxing powers and the Provincial Go-vernment’s share of national taxes would be best given to the cities and municipalities.
“The provincial government system if removed cannot possibly affect the population adversely. (On) the contrary, it would save a lot of the people’s resources,” Osmeña’s letter read.
“Chop-chop would only aggravate the political cancer of our society. Non-productive investment in the multiplication of government payrolls will only result to further inflation, and inflation is the worst form of taxation,” his letter further stated.
Dalaguete Mayor and president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Cebu Ronald Allan Cesante, for his part, finds the proposal “not tenable at this time” but said he still has to get the sentiment of his members and see if they have to come up with an official stand on the issue.
LMP is among the local leagues that have voiced out their opposition on the proposals to divide Cebu into separate provinces.
Also yesterday, the Federation of Barangay Councils in Cebu passed a manifesto also expressing their opposition on the split-Cebu plan.
At least 29 out of 51 Association of Barangay Councils presidents attended the general assembly and signed the manifesto.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, these efforts to mangle Cebu to suit the political interests of a few,” the manifesto read.
Reps. Simeon Kintanar Jr. (Cebu, 2nd district), Antonio Yapha (Cebu, 3rd district) and Clavel Asas-Martinez (Cebu, 4th district) have filed separate bills seeking to make their districts into separate provinces.
Last Feb. 14, the Tuburan Municipal Council passed a resolution as an alternative proposal, amid debates on the move to divide Cebu.
Tuburan is part of the third district and they suggested that instead of making a separate province, it’s better to abolish the Cebu Provincial Government.
Delute, who sponsored the resolution, said the current set-up of having a provincial government is “duplicitous, superfluous and ruinous to some local government units, which might not have the blessings of the provincial government.” (MBG)
(March 2, 2005 issue)
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