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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Parishioners slam Sugbuak; Serge O. assures scrutiny
A public hearing on the Sugbuak bills will be held in Cebu once these reach the Senate, said Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III, as Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal announced an intensified information campaign and consultation on the proposal to divide the island.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia also presented her objections before members of the technical working group the House committee on local government created to study the bills of Reps. Simeon Kintanar, Antonio Yapha Jr. and Clavel Martinez.
“There is too much politics involved. Emotion gets in the way,” Osmeña said over radio dySS on the controversy over the decision of the House committee chairman Emilio Macias not to hold a public hearing in Cebu.
The governor told Sun.Star Cebu last night that her presentation was successful as she convinced Rep. Luis Villafuerte, the head of the technical working group, that Cebu should be the venue for the hearing.
“It is Cebu as decided by the technical working group and Villafuerte is very influential, being vice chairman of the local government committee. It is up to him and his colleagues to work it out,” Garcia said last night after her dinner with congressmen.
Cardinal Vidal, for his part, presented the initial results of the survey made in parishes across Cebu to get the people’s sentiment on the proposal to create three provinces.
Of the 138 churches under the Cebu Archdiocese, 71 have already submitted initial results of the survey, in which rejection of the split-Cebu bills is the “greater majority” even in the hometown of the two proponents.
The results were submitted during a meeting last Tuesday between the cardinal, priests and auxiliary bishops.
Vidal said that in Pina-mungajan, the hometown of Yapha, proponent of Occidental Cebu, 989 were against the move, out of 1,149 respondents. Only 145 were in favor.
In Argao, Kintanar’s hometown, 935 opposed the bill creating Cebu del Sur. Of the 967 respondents, only 30 voted yes.
However, in Bogo town, 1,415 respondents were in favor of Martinez’s proposed Cebu del Norte, while 1,199 were against.
There were a total of 2,730 respondents.
The cardinal said that after the House committee on local government is done with the hearing on Sugbuak bills, the Archdiocese will produce a primer so all the Cebuanos will know the pros and cons of the proposal to split Cebu into four provinces.
He also insisted that Cebu should be the venue for the hearing.
Vidal will give Governor Garcia a copy of the survey so she can present it in the House hearing.
The cardinal will issue a pastoral letter at the end of the month.
Asked for his comment, Yapha said he would rather wait for the plebiscite than argue with the cardinal on who has more supporters.
“It’s true the cardinal’s voice carries a lot of weight, but I don’t think his survey or the church can influence the results of the plebiscite,” Yapha said in a mobile phone interview.
Context
Senator Osmeña also revealed yesterday that none of the Sugbuak proponents has spoken to him about their bills.
“They should be given a chance to express their sentiments,” he said in the same radio interview.
“Cebu should look at this (proposal) in the context of local revenues, administration and the economy in Central Visayas. For example, in the shipping traffic between Cebu and Leyte or Cebu and Bohol, there must a synergy in the economy in the region,” Osmeña said.
His brother, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, is also confident a public hearing will be held here.
“He gave his full assurance that there will be a public hearing here. He doesn’t want to pay attention to it right now, he will pay attention only when it goes to the Senate, but he doubts it will,” Osmeña told a news conference yesterday. (AIV/With LCR)
(August 25, 2005 issue)
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