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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Pabling calls on towns, cities to seek recall of bills seeking to split Cebu
Former Cebu governor now Capitol consultant Pablo Garcia called on all component municipalities and cities to pass resolutions requesting the House committee on rules to return the split-Cebu bills to the committee on local government.
Garcia said the governor will also write to the House committee on rules stating, among others, that there was no quorum when the committee voted on the fate of Cebu Province.
Dim prospect
“The prospect is getting dimmer and dimmer for the bills, but this is a fight to the finish. Dili ta ni lung-an kay di kakumpyansa-an ni,” said Garcia.
Earlier, House committee on local government chairman Rep. Emilio Macias said they already forwarded the bills, along with the motion for reconsideration, to the House committee on rules.
The committee of Macias (Oriental Negros, 2nd district) voted on the bills with seven in favor.
“Of the seven, three are the authors so four ra gyud ang nibutar, of whom one changed his mind and filed the motion for reconsideration. So if the bills are passed, we could say the fate of Cebu was decided by only three non-Cebuanos,” Garcia told Sun.Star Cebu.
In the letter that the governor will send to the rules committee, the “irregular” proceedings by which the bills were treated will be cited.
Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez (4th district) filed the bill for Cebu del Norte, Rep. Simeon Kintanar (2nd district) for Cebu del Sur and Rep. Antonio Yapha for Cebu Occidental (3rd district).
But Garcia said the towns affected were bypassed.
According to the law, he said, a petition from the towns wanting to form a new province must be present before the bills are passed.
This and other flaws in the bills, such as the absence of a certification stating that the original Cebu area will not be reduced to less than the minimum, have made the committee of Macias unauthorized to treat the bills.
Railroading
The Garcia family accused Macias of railroading the passage of the bills for his refusal, despite several requests, to hold public hearings in Cebu.
Kintanar, Martinez and Yapha said forming new provinces will bring the government closer to the people. Their constituents will no longer have to travel to Cebu City to transact business, and Cebu will get more in terms of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) because of the equal sharing among provinces.
But critics of the bills said the IRA of the new provinces will not be enough to meet the expenses needed for new offices and their staff.
The Capitol has launched a signature campaign against the bills, and is expected to come up with national advertisements to make the Cebuanos’ voices be heard by the country, especially all congressmen. (JPM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 30, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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