CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama has filed a complaint against Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia before the Office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over the “meddling” of the governor in the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (CBRT) project, a mass transportation system project in Cebu City.
On March 20, 2024, Rama filed an administrative case against the governor on the grounds of abuse of authority under Section 1(e) of Administrative Order No. 23, s. 1992; oppression and grave misconduct under Section 1(c) of Administrative Order No. 23, s. 1992, along with conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act under Section 1(h) of Administrative Order (AO) No. 23, s. 1992.
The administrative case stems from Garcia’s issuance last Feb. 27 of a cease and desist order, through Memorandum 16-2024, directed at Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Co. Ltd., against the construction activities on Province-owned lots on Osmeña Blvd. associated with the CBRT project. Garcia cited the project’s potential violation against the Philippine Heritage Law for appearing to be located within the buffer zones of heritage zones.
Rama emphasized that Garcia has no right to interfere in the affairs of Cebu City because, as a highly urbanized city, Cebu City operates independently from the Province.
Discipline and suspend
Citing the “social disturbance, economic loss, and political turmoil brought about by Governor Garcia,” Rama asked the President to “discipline and suspend Governor Garcia for incurring the legal violations” laid down in his complaint.
Rama asked the Office of the President to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into his allegations against Garcia; and if warranted, to preventively suspend the governor to prevent her from using her position to influence witnesses, obstruct justice, or engage in further misconduct; to find her administratively liable for violating AO 23, s. 1992; and apply any other appropriate remedies and sanctions deemed fair and reasonable under the given circumstances.
Parties
The CBRT is a P28.78 billion project covering 13.18 kilometers from the South Road Properties in Cebu City’s south to the Cebu I.T. Park in the city’s north intended to decongest traffic and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the complaint.
Signing the memorandum of agreement for the project in 2016 were the Department of Transportation and the Cebu City Government. Hunan is the contractor for Package 1 of the project that covers 2.38 kilometers from the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) to the Cebu Provincial Capitol in Cebu City.
Abuse of authority
In arguing that Garcia committed abuse of authority, Rama said no one, including the governor of Cebu, has the authority to issue cease and desist orders concerning national infrastructure projects. The power is exclusively vested in the Supreme Court, as stated in Sections 3 and 4 of Republic Act (RA) 8975.
Rama also accused the governor of exercising powers without due regard to the territorial jurisdiction and oversight authority of the Cebu City Government over the CBRT project as well as “unduly interfering with President Marcos’s infrastructure initiatives.”
In his first State of the Nation Address, Marcos mentioned the CBRT among the priority projects to improve the country’s transport system, Rama said.
“Governor Garcia should be reminded that the Local Government Code only grants her administrative powers with respect to local affairs. She cannot dictate the thrust of national infrastructure projects, much less impose a requirement for her to approve them prior to implementation,” Rama said in the complaint.
Grave misconduct
Rama said Garcia’s acts constituted grave misconduct because of the “clear willful intent to violate the law, or flagrant disregard of established rules, supported by substantial evidence.”
He said Hunan had been awarded the construction works on Nov. 2, 2022 yet, so Hunan has “acquired vested rights on the CBRT Package 1, which cannot be taken from it without due process of law.”
Rama said Garcia’s “afterthought” that the CBRT seemed to be located within the buffer zones of heritage zones offended Hunan’s right to due process.
The mayor said the governor’s memorandum stemmed from her complaint that the CBRT project would block the view of part of the Provincial Capitol building when prior to the CBRT construction, there were on the center islands “several tall pine trees with the same height or even taller than the aesthetic canopies of the CBRT Project which undoubtedly covered or blocked the view” of the Capitol for decades and yet Garcia did not object to these.
Oppressive
In arguing that Garcia’s act was oppressive, Rama said her memorandum calling on the Philippine National Police to ensure the implementation of her order showed her abuse of authority as governor and set a dangerous precedent on the extent of a governor’s administrative powers over local affairs.
In his complaint, Rama said both Garcia and Marcos Jr. had attended the inauguration of the project in 2023, and Garcia had not objected to the project before the start of its construction. So Garcia’s issuance of her memorandum only when “so much had already been done and the project has already caused horrendous traffic congestion” showed the exercise of her power “without any authority to do so, enjoining a national infrastructure project and assuming authority over a government infrastructure project, of which the Province of Cebu is not even a party, outside of her territorial jurisdiction.”
For these reasons, Rama called her issuance of the memorandum “improper conduct.”
Her conduct was also prejudicial to the best interest of the service for having “tarnished the image and integrity of her public office” as it showed that as governor, “she can do anything merely based on caprices,” according to the complaint.
Not professional
Rama argued that Garcia violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act as her acts “failed to exude professionalism as a public official” when she “chose her personal interest over public interest”; her lawyers could have advised her on her lack of control and supervision over Cebu City and government infrastructure projects in this city, and yet she still issued her memorandum order; and the delay in the project had caused undue injury to countless parties, including the government.
Administrative order
Administrative Order 23, series of 1992, “prescribes the rules and procedures on the investigation of administrative disciplinary cases against elective local officials of provinces, highly urbanized cities, independent component cities, and cities and municipalities of Metropolitan Manila.”
Section 1. Rule 2 of AO 23, on the grounds for administrative disciplinary actions, states that an elective local official may be disciplined, suspended or removed from office for, among other things, any of the following grounds: a) disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines; b) culpable violation of the Constitution; (c) dishonesty, oppression, misconduct in office, gross negligence, or dereliction of duty; (d) commission of any offenses involving moral turpitude or an offense punishable by at least prision mayor, which is from six years and one day to 12 years imprisonment. e) abuse of authority; (f) such other grounds as may be provided by the Local Government Code of 1991; RA 6713; RA 3019; Administrative Code of 1987; Revised Penal Code; and all other applicable general and special laws.
Garcia declined to comment on Rama’s filing of the case against her when members of the press approached her on the issue after the ceremonial turnover of the Capitol-owned lot in Barangay Banilad in Cebu City to a private developer on Friday, March 22, 2024.
“No comment,” Garcia said.
Ongoing
In a text message on Friday, CBRT project manager Norvin Imbong said works on the CBRT are ongoing.
Imbong said they are concentrating on the Cebu South Bus Terminal (CSBT) station and the pavement improvements on the right side facing Fuente.
He said they also embedded the footings of the Fuente bus station.
Package 1 will have four bus stations. They are the Capitol, Fuente, Cebu Normal University and CSBT stations.
He added that they are seeking approval to work on the link to the port, which extends from Land Bank of the Philippines to Plaza Independencia.
Following the governor’s cease and desist order, Imbong said they are already securing clearance from the Philippine Historical Commission. If they could secure a clearance, he said the order would have less implications on the progress of the project.
Asked if they are still confident that they could complete the CBRT Package 1 by July, Imbong said it would depend on when they could get the requested clearance.
According to Rama’s complaint, the CBRT was already almost 60 percent complete as of Feb. 16, 2024.