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Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Gwen urged: Lobby Serge v. Sugbuak
Instead of lobbying against the split-Cebu bills in the House of Representatives, Cebuanos who are against the proposal should ask for Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III, the only Cebuano legislator in the Senate.
The senator has not made his personal stand yet, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said, but his brother is willing to listen to all positions.
Mayor Osmeña said Serge is bound to have a say on the bills when these reach the Senate and he will most likely be able to influence the other senators’ stand on the matter.
“If he says no to the bills, patay. No matter what all the congressmen say, if Serge says no, all the other senators will say no. You should lobby with Serge, he’s the key to all of this, it’s not Macias, he’s very small,” the mayor said.
In a news conference, Osmeña said Cebuanos should not waste their time on Rep. Emilio Macias, chairman of House committee on local government, whom he accused of being biased for the split-Cebu bills.
“With Serge, you can expect all senators to ask him about Cebu because he’s from here. That’s why we should lobby, don’t forget you have a Cebuano in the Senate,” he told reporters yesterday.
Listen
“He won’t tell me what he thinks but he said he will listen to everybody. But how can he listen when nobody’s addressing him,” he continued.
If the bills of Reps. Simeon Kintanar (2nd district), Antonio Yapha Jr. (3rd district) and Clavel Asas-Martinez (4th district) pass the House, Serge said in an earlier statement that he will make the Senate committee on local government conduct public hearings in all districts of Cebu so that “the senators will be made aware of the feelings of the Cebuano people.”
The technical working group the House committee on local government created to study the bills postponed the scheduled meeting today to Monday because of the hearing on the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia was prevented from making a presentation during the first committee hearing last Aug. 10, but she found a way to present her case against breaking up Cebu to the legislators.
Macias said the governor has invited him and other committee members to dinner tonight so she can make her Powerpoint presentation.
Report
Garcia will include the recent report of the Commission on Audit showing that Cebu is number one in terms of assets (P1.2 billion) and cash in bank (more than P1 billion) among 79 provinces as of last year.
“This is an additional reason why it is not logical and justifiable to split Cebu,” she said.
Mayor Osmeña shares Garcia’s view that Cebu is more productive as one whole province, as shown by the audit report.
The governor also welcomed Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal’s pronouncement that he will soon issue a pastoral letter on the results of the survey that the archdiocese did on the issue.
According to initial reports, parishioners across Cebu showed an overwhelming opposition to the plan to carve up the island into four provinces.
“Cebuanos are very religious and we respect the church. He (Vidal) had said how much he loves Cebu and the Cebuanos and the feeling is mutual.
Cebuanos not only love him, we respect and look up to cardinal Vidal. So any statement from him will be respected by almost all of us, with the exception of probably three or four if you include their tutor,” Garcia said. (LCR/MBG)
(August 24, 2005 issue)
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