Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday announced that she was transferring her voter’s registration from Dumanjug town, southwest Cebu, where she’s been listed for the past nine years, to the next town of Barili.
“It doesn’t mean anything more. Perhaps, there are reasons why I will transfer, and it is not entirely political,” Garcia told reporters as she kept her reasons
“Perhaps, I would want to be in the 3rd district now so people there will realize that Gwen cares for them too.”
Moving out of Dumanjug in the 2nd congressional district to Barili town in the 3rd congressional district gives rise to new political possibilities for the governor who is winding up her third and last term in 2013.
For one, it reinforced persistent talk that she would only yield her Capitol seat to another Garcia.
FAMILY CHOICE
Earlier speculation revolved around choices of her daughter Christina, her father and one of her brothers. The move to Barili town points to an exit for youngest brother Rep. Pablo John Garcia of the 3rd district before running for the governorship.
Reached for comment, the 44-year-old congressman confirmed there was a push for him to run for the top Capitol post, and that “I’ve promised to give it serious thought this time.”
If that ripens to a firm “yes,” his 3rd district bailiwick could be preserved by elder sister Gwen, who can run for congress.
Pablo John served as his sister’s consultant on information and management in the Capitol before he ran and won his first term as congressman in 2007.
Last year, he said he was only interested in seeking reelection to a third term in 2013, but when asked yesterday about the governor’s sudden decision to switch voter’s registration, the lawyer confirmed his other option.
“Well, this talk has been going on for a year now. Certain quarters within our party want me to run. I’ve promised to give it serious thought this time,” he said in a text message.
Asked what prompted the change of mind, he said, “Because the talks haven’t stopped even after I said I wouldn’t (run for governor). So at the very least it warrants serious thought.”
Pablo John was silent about who would replace him in the 3rd district and said an answer would just be an “assumption” since he hasn’t made a final decision.
Governor Garcia was also tight-lipped about her reasons for announcing she would no longer be casting her vote in Cebu’s 2nd district next year.
Residency of six months before the May 13, 2013, election is a legal requirement to qualify as a candidate for congressman.
The deadline for filing certificates of candidacy is Oct. 1 to 5 this year.
Governor Garcia is being wooed to join the Senate ticket of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s United Opposition Philippines Party (UNO).
Yesterday she made light of her transfer of voter’s registration scheduled for May 3.
“Naa ra gihapon ta sa probinsya. Ang kuyaw tingali kon mobalhin kog registration adto sa Leyte o Samar. (We’re still here in the province of Cebu. It would have been shocking if I transferred my voter’s registration to Leyte or Samar),” the governor quipped.
“What is clear is that I’m still in the province of Cebu, my beloved province of Cebu.”
“Some will feel threatened; some will also be happy about it,” she said.
Garcia is set to transfer her voter’s registration to Barili on May 3.
She has been a registered voter of Dumanjug since she first ran as governor of Cebu in 2003 until the present.
“For a long time, I’ve been registered in the second district. Perhaps, I would want to be in the third district now so people there will realize that Gwen cares for them too,” she said.
Garcia was mum about her political plans, which she hinted in an earlier interview would be announced during the State of the Province address in July.
“Abangan ang susunod na kabanata (Watch out for the next chapter),” she said.
The One Cebu party founded by the Garcias is headed by Gwen as chairperson and Pablo John as secretary general.
The contender for the governor’s post, Hilairo “Junjun” Davide III, said the Liberal Party (LP) is ready to face their political adversaries in next year’s polls.
“As of today, the president (Benigno Aquino III) has always told me that I’m LP’s candidate for Cebu governor,” he said.
“Regardless of who the Garcias will field, we are ready to face any adversary in 2013 ,” Davide said.
Davide and the LP have been courting Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale to join the administration party, a prospect Magpale has kept an open option with the guidance of cousin Ramonito Durano of the Danao-based Bakud party.
Today, Davide and other LP leaders commemorate the one-year death anniversary of the the late vice governor Gregorio Sanchez Jr. with his family by unveiling a bust of the engineer, an LP stalwart, in Tuburan town, northwest Cebu, in the 3rd district.
Sanchez was a former ally of Governor Garcia who turned into a bitter critic and filed a complaint of usurpation against her months before his death from lung cancer on April 29, 2011.