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Monday, May 07, 2007
Sugbuak bloc eyes Mactan as separate province
CEBU CITY -- Opposition senatorial candidate John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña sees Mactan Island as a separate province and will work on this with Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, if the Provincial Board (PB) member is elected congressman of Cebu’s sixth district.
Both Osmeña and Quisumbing attended the rally Saturday night of the slate of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, who is seeking reelection under the Lakas-CMD party.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
Osmeña told the crowd of about 8,000, according to police estimates, that Mactan and its surrounding islets have a huge potential for tourism.
He also said that gubernatorial candidate Antonio Yapha Jr. and vice gubernatorial candidate Clavel Asas-Martinez have agreed to support Mactan’s conversion into a province.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia wasn’t surprised by the plan.
She will oppose it for the same reason she fought proposals to create three additional provinces in Cebu: “the dire economic consequences on the constituents of the proposed minute provinces dismembered from the original local government unit.”
“The Cebuanos have overwhelmingly rejected Sugbuak and will continue to reject it. Wa pa gyud siya ka-g? (Does he still not get it?),” said Garcia, who believes the plan to split Cebu into four provinces was Osmeña’s brainchild.
She added that Osmeña has “always been anti-Cebu” and had “many times” in the past said, “Mag-puasa mo”—a threat to shut Cebu out of his projects or pork barrel funds.
Former Cebu governor Vicente de la Serna, one of Quisumbing’s opponents for the district House seat, shrugged off Osmeña’s plan, saying the former senator might only be joking.
“Unsa ma’y capital, Caubian?” dela Serna said in an interview with Sun.Star.
Lawyer Gonzalo Malig-on, chief of staff of reelectionist Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, said in an interview that Ruiz is opposed to the breaking up of Cebu into smaller provinces.
Ruiz is allied with Garcia’s One Cebu party.
Garcia’s rival for the governorship, Yapha, filed in 2005 a bill to convert the third district, which he represented in Congress, into the province of Occidental Cebu.
Martinez filed a similar bill to make the fourth district the province of Cebu del Norte.
Radaza, who is being challenged by Acting Mayor Norma Patalinjug, said Osmeña is the only senatorial candidate his line-up is supporting. Party politics in the local and national level is so muddled, he added.
It was not clear whether he also supports the proposal to make Mactan a province.
But Osmeña, for his part, said the June 15 plebiscite on converting Lapu-Lapu into a highly urbanized city is a first step in turning Mactan into a province.
Section 452 of the Local Government Code states that “cities with a minimum population of 200,000 inhabitants as certified by the National Statistics Office and with the latest income of at least P50 million based on 1991 constant prices as certified by the city treasurer, shall be classified as highly urbanized cities.”
Lapu-Lapu has passed both requirements.
During his speech, Osmeña also criticized Governor Garcia, who is seeking her second three-year term, for being anti-Sugbuak, “taray, maldita, igat ug hangol sa iyang One Sibot, because she wants to corner all privileges.”
Radaza is also supporting Yapha and Martinez, who both spoke at the rally held at the Lapu-Lapu City auditorium. The speeches started about 6:40 Saturday night and around midnight, they were not yet done.
Osmeña has the support of industrialist Norberto Quisumbing Jr., chairman of the Norkis Group of Companies.
A copy of an office memo furnished to Sun.Star states Quisumbing’s appeal that Osmeña must land fifth or sixth in the final count for senators.
Sought for comment, Luigi, Quisumbing’s grandson, said it is important for Cebu to have a voice in the Senate.
“How can we turn our back on Sonny, who is one of Cebu’s sons?” Luigi said.
He added that he is supporting senatorial candidates of Lakas, which is coalesced with other parties under President Gloria Macapagay Arroyo’s Team Unity.
Osmeña, however, is running for senator under the Genuine Opposition ticket. He ran under the administration coalition in 2004, but lost.
The elder Quisumbing’s office memo also enumerated his other six choices for senators: Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Ralph Recto, Sonia Roco and Antonio Trillanes III.
He asked for support for his grandson, Luigi, and the latter’s lineup of mayors, vice mayors and councilors in Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Consolacion and Cordova, as well as their PB candidates for the district. (AIV/With AAG & MBG/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (May 7, 2007 issue)
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