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Thursday, May 26, 2005
Mayor wants Cebu City to rejoin Province
CEBU CITY -- Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the Cebu City Council are pushing to include Cebu City again in electing Capitol officials, saying the province is better off consolidated than divided.
In a privilege speech during the council session Wednesday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama urged Representative Antonio Cuenco and Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar "to work out in Congress to allow us again to participate in electing officials of the province, without taking what we are presently enjoying as a highly urbanized city."
The council vowed to keep opposing the move of three Cebuano legislators to create the provinces of Cebu del Sur, Cebu del Norte and Occidental Cebu.
"I will be pushing for Cebu City to be included in the referendum because we are involved in this, being the capital of the province. I would even want Cebu City to be given back to the province, we should be one," Osmeña said Wednesday.
He added that Cebu City should be included in the debates and voting on the bills, since the city "is the center of public opinion and the opinion-makers in the province are in Cebu City."
Bombardment
In the meantime, Congress will be bombarded with petitions against the new provinces, said Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, in a separate interview.
"I will call on all sectors of the Cebuano community, the public, civil society, business and the church to bombard Congress with petitions. The hearings should be held here in Cebu, so that the Cebuanos will be heard," the governor said.
Her brother, Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia, asked Representative Emilio Macias II to inhibit himself from hearing the proposals to divide Cebu. Macias sits as chairman of the House committee on local government.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to get Macias' side but he was not available Wednesday, according to his staff.
Macias has said Governor Garcia cannot veto a resolution of the Provincial Board supporting the proposals to create new provinces in Cebu, because the board is entitled to its sentiments.
He has been quoted as saying no hearing will be conducted in Cebu, to avoid chaos.
Macias' committee will start hearing the proposals of Representative Simeon Kintanar, Antonio Yapha and Clavel Asas-Martinez in July.
Interest
Governor Garcia commended Congressman Cuenco "for taking the cudgels of this crusade of keeping this province intact."
"I commend Congressman Cuenco as he has chosen to rise above the bonds of camaraderie to take the greater interest of Cebu and the Cebuanos," Garcia said.
Yapha, for his part, said it is Cuenco's right if he wants to block the proposal.
He said he has talked to the parish priests in his district and explained to them his purpose for proposing the creation of Occidental Cebu.
On Sunday, he will be in Balamban to talk with constituents about the benefits of making the third district into a new province.
Del Mar, for his part, said: "Eventually, I will have to take a stand because I will have to vote on that, but at the right time. And the appropriate time will be during the debates in the plenary."
On mass motion Wednesday, the Cebu City Council called on the city's constituents to be vigilant in dealing with proposals to split Cebu into several provinces.
City officials added that like the province's component cities, Cebu City should again be allowed to vote for governor, vice governor and members of the Provincial Board.
Cebu hearing
But Vice Mayor Michael Rama and Councilor Edgardo Labella want a thorough study to find out the pros and cons of becoming a component city.
Even if Cebu does not become a component city, Rama said it still has every right to be included in the plebiscite on the creation of three new provinces.
"If a plebiscite is called, we should insist on being a part of that... Whatever hearings would be conducted on this issue should be done in Cebu, so we can bring out and make our sentiments clear," he added.
Councilor Hilario Davide III, for his part, called on the proponents of the bills to heed the voice of the Cebuanos and reconsider their stand "on this foolishness to divide Cebu."
On whether Governor Garcia should veto the PB's resolution supporting the plan to cut up Cebu into several provinces, Osmeña said she should, if only to express that the PB's stand is not the official stand of the province.
"She has every right to veto it. If I were her, I would veto it then let the PB act on it. She should veto the resolution and then the PB can override her veto, that's the procedure there," said the mayor.
"Treason"
"Treason" was how former governor Pablo Garcia described the Provincial Board members' support of the House bills for three new Cebu provinces.
The former governor, in a press conference Wednesday, thinks the PB resolution is "null and void" if considered as an official action of the board.
"The PB cannot commit an act of self-destruction...They can't pass any official action against the interest of the very province that they represent," said Garcia, who was Cebu governor for three terms.
Board Member Joven Mondigo, however, said what they did is not detrimental to Cebu because the whole island will get even more money, with the equal sharing of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) among local government units.
"The districts will already be self-reliant because we will have our own resources. This is for the interest of the entire island," said Mondigo.
People decide
Also, he said they are "just complying" with the requirement for them to take a stand. "It is just an expression of sentiment, and not binding."
Jose Ma. Gastardo, for his part, said it is not he who will decide on the issue.
"The Province came from nothing before, and everything is changing, so if there's to be any change in the future, it should be decided by the people," said PB Member Gastardo.
Both Mondigo and Gastardo voted in favor of the resolution supporting the move to create three new provinces in Cebu.
PB Member Victor Maambong lost in his move for a resolution opposing the three new provinces, after his colleagues voted against it, 8-7.
Those who voted against Maambong's resolution think smaller provinces will be better governed. (LCR/With JPM & MBG)
(May 26, 2005 issue)
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