CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has been placed under a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman following her issuance of a special permit for a desilting activity in a protected area when the province was reeling from the El Niño phenomenon in 2024.
The governor said on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, that she will challenge the order, which she described as illegal due to a provision from the Omnibus Election Code, which prohibits the suspension of elective officials during election period without prior approval from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Garcia further said that she was never given due process, as she had never been notified of the complaint and was not given the chance to reply before the issuance of the preventive suspension.
“No Comelec approval was secured prior to the issuance of this suspension,” she said.
The election period started last Jan. 12 and will end on June 11.
“The suspension order was…released with barely two weeks before the elections,” said Garcia, who is seeking a third consecutive term in the May 12 midterm polls.
The governor was campaigning in northern Cebu on Tuesday.
Garcia reaffirmed her commitment to public service and said her legal team is preparing to challenge the order.
The anti-graft office, for its part, states that its order is “immediately executory,” and the governor is suspended without pay pending the case’s resolution.
This is the second preventive suspension imposed on Garcia. In December 2012, the Office of the President suspended her for six months over a grave abuse of authority complaint filed by the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez.
Garcia at the time denied committing any wrongdoing, and the suspension was politically motivated to give advantage to the administration candidate for governor in the 2013 midterm elections.
Complaint
The preventive suspension order, released on Tuesday, April 29, stems from an administrative complaint, which accuses the governor of committing grave abuse of authority, gross misconduct, serious dishonesty, gross negligence, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and violation of Republic Act 6713, or Code of Conduct of Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
Garcia issued Special Permit 2024-09 on May 14, 2024, authorizing Shalom Construction Inc. to conduct desilting activities in the Mananga River in Talisay City and Lusaran River in Cebu City. The two bodies of water are part of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape.
The complaint claims that the permit was granted without the necessary environmental compliance certificate or certificate of non-coverage from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), or prior consultation with relevant agencies.
Addressing water crisis
Garcia said the permit was issued to address an El Niño phenomenon-induced water crisis that severely affected the Metropolitan Cebu Water District franchise area.
From July 2023 to June 2024, the Philippines experienced the El Niño phenomenon, which resulted in agricultural damages and water shortages.
“This action was taken purely out of urgency to alleviate a dire water shortage,” she said, adding that the desilting was conducted with coordination from the cities of Cebu and Talisay, the DENR, the Environmental Management Bureau, and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Garcia said the Cebu Provincial Board had declared a state of calamity, which supported her decision.
There was no personal interest or malice involved — only a deep sense of responsibility to act swiftly in the face of the growing burden and suffering of the Cebuanos due to the dwindling water supply, not to mention the potential health hazards caused by the unavailability of clean water,” she said.
The governor said in her statement that the complainant, Moises Garcia Deiparine, founded the Duterte Riders Team and “is openly affiliated with partisan political groups,” and that Ombudsman Samuel Martires, who signed the order on April 23, is an appointee of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“It is important to note that the complainant is a known political figure affiliated with partisan groups. We will allow the facts — not political motivations — to speak for themselves,” Garcia said. / EHP