Gwen, PJ file COC; 3 brgy chiefs running
Sealing her pronouncement that she will fight to return to the Capitol, Cebu Third District Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia filed her Certificate of Candidacy for the 2019 elections yesterday.
She filed her COC together with her brother, Pablo John Garcia, who is running to her place at the Third District.
“I can run, and I do not run just for the sake of it. I run to win,” Garcia told reporters, addressing concerns that she may not eligible to run for governor owing to the dismissal order from the Office of the Ombudsman.
She said the Ombudsman cannot implement the dismissal order against her because the anti-graft body has no “administrative disciplining authority” over her.
Under Section 21 of the Act providing the functions and structural organization of the Office of the Ombudsman, the anti-graft body can impose “disciplinary authority over all elective and appointive officials of the Government” except those “officials who may be removed only by impeachment or over Members of Congress and the Judiciary.”
The Office of the Ombudsman found Garcia guilty of grave misconduct over the purchase of the controversial Balili property in Naga City, Cebu when she was still the governor.
The dismissal order, however, came only when she was already in Congress.
Garcia said her runningmate will be “known in due time.”
She decided to file her COC in time for her 63rd birthday.
Garcia first won as governor in 2004 and was reelected in 2007 and 2010. In 2013, after she was suspended as governor in 2012, she ran representative for the third district and won.
2019 RACE
Garcia is running for governor under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) as her national party and One Cebu, her local political party.
She will face the incumbent governor Hilario Davide III for the second time. She defeated Davide in 2010.
Garcia said she decided to run again for governor because she wants to make Cebu province number one again.
“Well, I have seen the Province of Cebu has steadily declined from its number one spot when I left it in 2013. There has been decline to now belonging the lower half of the total 81 province,” Garcia said.
Based on the National Competitiveness Index, Cebu Province ranked 44th in 2017, but in 2018, the province improve its ranking to 25.
“I have seen how the services, the programs, the infrastructure that we have set in place, all of these have either been abandoned, neglected and discontinued if only for the reason that these were my programs,” Garcia said.
Garcia compared the state of the province to the current dilapidated state of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), which she claimed was once a pride of Cebu after housing several national and international events. The CICC was built when she was governor to be one of the venues of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit here.
“Makita ninyo nga gipasagdan. Karon, nahimo na nga puluy-anan sa kadaghanan nga naapektohan sa sunog, hugaw na kaayo, guba na kaayo, mao sad na ang estado sa probinsya sa Sugbo karon,” Garcia said.
Davide was clear in saying that fixing the CICC is not the province's priority.
Garcia also said the province was “debt free” and “insurgency free” when she was governor.
“Karon, ang plano man gani kay mangutang… I maintained, in all my nine years, in spite of the fact nga labing daghana nato nahimo nga proyekto, gani nakahimo ta sa CICC, 800 million walay utang. And I promised that I would keep Cebu debt free. I left the office nga that Cebu is insurgency free, debt free,” Garcia said.
If she will win again this time, Garcia said she will implement more programs and projects for students, senior citizens, and women. She will also promote tourism, culture, and the heritage of the towns and cities just like before.
Aside from Gwen and Pablo John, Balamban councilor John Ismael Borgonia also filed his COC for a seat at the Provincial Board.
CEBU CITY
Meanwhile, in Cebu City, three barangay captains said they are interested to run for higher office.
Tisa Barangay Captain Phillip Zafra, the former president of the Association of Barangay Councils in Cebu City; Mabolo captain Niña Mabatid; and Guadalupe captain Michael Gacasan said they have received offers from their political groups.
Zafra said he accepted the offer of former mayor Michael Rama and Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella to be part of Barug Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan slate.
He said he did not hesitate to grab the opportunity to run for councilor because he wants to serve in a larger scale. If he wins, he will focus on improving the delivery of basic services in the barangay level.
Mabatid, for her part, has yet to decide whether or not she will run for councilor. She said she was included initially in the official lineup of Barug PDP Laban.
Mabatid is a neophyte politician. She became known to all barangay captains after she run as ABC president last July.
Gacasan, meanwhile, said yesterday that Mayor Tomas Osmeña has offered him a slot under the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).
He said he has always wanted to run for higher office because serving the people is his passion.