Tuesday, April 03, 2007 Yapha, Clavel copying platform: guv
CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia described the platform of the tandem of Reps. Antonio Yapha and Clavel Martinez as an “imitation.”
“I went through their platform and realized that most of these have previously been prioritized and already been addressed by my administration. This, I can say, is imitation in the best form of flattery. But flattery will get you nowhere kay samtang ila pa ning giplano ug daghan pa sila og sulti, ato na ning gibuhat (They’re still planning but we’re already doing it),” the governor told reporters yesterday.
Yapha (Cebu, 3rd district) and Martinez (Cebu, 4th district) are running for the top two positions of the Province of Cebu.
Included in their platform are institutionalizing the Barangay Block Funding System, starting with the privatization of the Cebu International Convention Center for the initial funding; prioritizing health care and providing free disease prevention programs; educational programs; water; electricity and farm-to-market roads.
Also included are the creation of the Cebu economic free zone; privatization and expansion of the international airport as well as the Cebu port; establishment of a Metro Cebu Mass Transit System (Danao to Argao); implementation of the contour, gabion water impounding system throughout the island and completion of the trans-axial speedway.
One Cebu
Their platform also stated they want “to maintain one Cebu with the present geographic boundaries as one nation.”
Yapha and Martinez, along with Rep. Simeon Kintanar (2nd district, Cebu), had filed bills seeking to divide Cebu into four provinces by making their respective districts into separate provinces.
“I think they need a good editor…. Cebu is a province, not a nation and I don’t want to secede from the country. Rather, we would want to serve as a beacon of hope for the rest of the county to emulate and follow. Are they running for governor and vice governor or president and vice president?” Garcia said.
But Yapha said they are not imitating anybody.
“Wa mi magsunod-sunod kay wa mi angay sundon. Suroya ra gud ninyo ang kalungsoran. Are you satisfied (You visit the towns)?” Yapha said.
Martinez said Garcia is “just dreaming” when she said their platform of government is an imitation of what she has done.
“Of course not, she’s been dreaming and floating in mid-air. She’s just deceiving her own self. Who is she to be imitated? If she’s worth imitating, we will not run for a position in the Provincial Government,” Martinez said.
She again pointed out that the district hospitals are not functioning and that all patients are crowding at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
The Garcia administration has outsourced the hiring of personnel in district hospitals and decentralized the purchase of medicines. (MBG)
