IF ELECTED as Cebu third district representative in the May 13 polls, Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña wants to divide the province into two.
Osmeña, who is in a three-pronged race against lawyer Pablo John “PJ” Garcia and former Pinamungajan mayor Geraldine Yapha, wants to push for a legislation that will establish Occidental Cebu, which will be composed of towns under the third district.
But for Garcia, the proposal will only create more problems than it hopes to solve.
“The proposal to divide Cebu--known then and now as Sugbuak--has been resoundingly rejected by the Cebuanos in 2007. The Cebuanos saw it as a dangerous and reckless proposal which will endanger the economic viability of Cebu to serve merely the narrow political interests of its authors. It’s old trapo politics of divide-and-rule and I reject it,” he told SunStar Cebu in a text message.
“It would be interesting to know the views of Gov. (Hilario) Davide and VG (Vice Gov. Agnes) Magpale, who were against Sugbuak then, on this, now that they are allies with Mayor Osmeña. This is an indictment of the failure of Davide and Magpale to deliver services to the third district. But dividing the province would be creating more problems than it hopes to solve,” Garcia added.
Magpale, who is running against Garcia’s sister Gwen in the gubernatorial race, said she was open to the possibility of creating new provinces as a way to promote development, especially in areas far from the metropolis, such as the towns in the Camotes group of islands.
However, she admitted that the plan needed further study.
SunStar Cebu and Superbalita Cebu tried to reach out to Third District Representative Gwen but calls and texts to her cellphone remained unanswered as of Saturday night, April 6.
But during her time as governor, Gwen opposed the plan of former representatives Simeon Kintanar (2nd district), Antonio Yapha Jr. (3rd district) and Clavel Asas-Martinez (4th district) to divide Cebu into three separate provinces in 2005.
Sugbuak also gathered strong opposition from the public.
As for Yapha, who was recently junked by the Nationalist People’s Coaltion in favor of Osmeña, she saw no need to create another province as the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is currently pushing for regional autonomy through the proposed shift to federalism.
“Splitting of the province may not anymore be necessary since changing our form of government into a federal system is consistent with the spirit of local autonomy and more importantly will serve the purpose of fast tracking the economic, social and political development all over the province and most especially in the third district,” Yapha added.
During the proclamation of his group, Team Alagad, on Friday, April 5, Osmeña said the creation of a separate province could mean more development for Toledo and other areas in the third district.
Aside from an increase in the Internal Revenue Allotment share from the national government, income for local government units under the new province could also go up, he said. It could also mean more political representation as Osmeña proposed to create two congressional districts within Occidental Cebu.
He said his dream of creating a port in Toledo City will never be realized if the new province is not created.
Osmeña said he supports Magpale’s run for governor because he believes that if he supported Gwen, she would oppose his plan to break up Cebu.
Occidental Cebu, if realized, will be composed of two districts that will be made up of Toledo City and the towns of Barili, Tuburan, Aloguinsan, Pinamungajan, Asturias and Balamban. (from SCG of SuperBalita Cebu/JKV/RTF)