Governor thumbs down proposal to split Cebu

CEBU - Governor Gwen Garcia has thumbed down a proposal to divide Cebu into two provinces and Cebuanos are also strongly opposing it.

Garcia said creating more congressional districts will be more beneficial to Cebuanos than breaking up the island. “The solution is not to break up this province. If we want a bigger share from the national coffers, we should add more congressional districts,” she said. 

Lapu-Lapu Mayor Junard Chan floated the proposal and this was quickly opposed by the Cebuanos. 

Following the negative reactions of Cebuanos and government officials, Chan said: “While I remain supportive of the dream of the late Sec. Addy (Adelino) Sitoy in creating the Province of Mactan, I understand that the process entails a thorough study of the pros and cons of such legislative measures.” 

“At this point in time when we are still recovering from the effects of the pandemic and Typhoon Odette, a creation of a separate province is not in our utmost priority but rather we must channel our focus to the rehabilitation of our city and the promotion of our tourism industry.” 

Sitoy was a former Cordova Mayor and head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office who died in April last year. 

Netizens also wrote these comments on Chan’s Facebook page: “Mayor good evening. You have a good plan for the future mayor however it is very, very immature to realize what was the plan of late Sitoy at this time since we have not yet recuperated our economy which was affected by (Typhoon) Oddette and Covid 19. A lot of people are still jobless, homeless, and hungry and in summary the basic needs of the common masses,” said Anesia Tampus. 

Nathan Paul Pangon said: “I could only agree more with you Mayor Chan , Creating the province of Mactan necessitates more study weighing the pros and cons. the fact that we need more time to reconstruct our economy and tourism stability, to me this should be the priority.” 

Garcia reiterated the lessons from earlier attempts to divide Cebu into four provinces. “I was, and I am, and will always be against Sugbuak. And I know that the people of Cebu agree with me. That was shown in the 2007 elections when three congressmen wanted to break or dismember our province into four provinces. And in the 2007 elections — pwera buyag nangapildi silang tanan,” she said. 

She added that the creation of new provinces is costly to the national government. Such entails a plebiscite, creation of new provincial offices for all government agencies, and appointment of new provincial directors and prosecutors. 

Separating a local government, such as the town of Cordova, from the province of Cebu, would need for the entire province to participate in a plebiscite, the governor said. 

“I don’t know if he is either misquoted or nakalitan lang si Mayor Ahong. Kani man gung mo-file ka’g bill nga mag-create og bag-ong probinsya, and in this case iapil ang Cordova, first of all mangutana ta sa mga mayor sa tibuok Probinsya sa Sugbo lakip na ang mayor sa Cordova kon mosugot ba siya nga maapil siya sa bag-ong probinsya; mosugot ba ang ubang mga mayor sa tibuok probinsya nga makuhaan og lungsod, makuhaan og population, duna nay epekto sa atong IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) – mao nay tawag sa una - karon NTA or National Tax Allocation,” Garcia explained. 

With this proposal surfacing, Garcia is reminded of what was mentioned to her by Sitoy to look into the declaration of Lapu-Lapu as a highly urbanized city that separated it from the jurisdiction of the province of Cebu, if it followed the proper procedure. 

The rest of the province was never consulted or participated in a plebiscite during the process. The governor said she will ask her legal team to look into this. “I will ask my lawyers, maybe it will be good. It might enrich our knowledge about whether or not the proper procedure was followed in the declaration of Lapu-Lapu as a highly urbanized city,” Garcia said. 

“But I understand that he has a subsequent statement that, that is not a priority. I hope that it will never become one because there are other more important things to focus on. Ang importante nga atong ma-preserve ang atong unity not just philosophically, not just politically, but physically as well, geography as well - as a people,” she added. (EEV, Cebu Examiner)