SUPPORTERS of the Banawa-Englis and Guadalupe split yesterday visited Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama in City Hall to enlist his support.
Comelec has scheduled on July 28 the plebiscite on the proposed carving out of Banawa-Englis as a new barangay from barangay Guadalupe.
Rama assured the group that they have his support because he too has been campaigning for the split since his days as a councilor when he co-authored an ordinance for this purpose.
Former south district representative Antonio Cuenco used the ordinance as basis for sponsoring a bill for the purpose.
“Bati gyud kaayo pagkadala ang barangay karon. Ang syudad na gani ang mo kolekta sa ilang basura kay walay truck,” the mayor said.
(The barangay is really badly run now. It is even City Hall that collects their garbage.)
Rama said that if no plebiscite was set, he would have wanted to put up a satellite barangay in Banawa to be run by City Hall employees and a deputy barangay captain whom he will appoint.
“But barangay captain Michael Gacasan will surely not agree to that as he is loyal to my predecessor Tomas Osmeña,” Rama admitted.
Gacasan, he said, failed to address the concerns of Banawa and Englis residents who live far from the barangay hall.
There were unconfirmed reports that Osmeña and Gacasan were campaigning for “no” votes.
The two, however, said in earlier interviews that they didn’t want to get involved in the plebiscite and would rather allow Guadalupe residents to decide on the matter.
Rama advised members of the United Banawa-Englis Association Inc. to campaign for the split in the 61 sitios of barangay Guadalupe.
He said their campaign for “yes” votes should focus on residents of Guadalupe proper since most, if not all, of the residents of Banawa and Englis already support the split.
The campaign period will start Thursday and end a day before the July 28 plebiscite.
South district election officer Edwin Cadungog earlier said that he expects a 40 to 50 percent turnout.
In order for the “yes” votes to win, it has to get the support of 50 percent plus one of the total number of voters.
Barangay Guadalupe has a total of 28, 421 registered voters of which 8, 337 are members of the Banawa-Englis Association.
Crispin Villarin, Banawa-Englis association president, said they are pushing for the split in order to have a separate barangay hall and avail of basic services.
He said that since they are situated far from the Guadalupe barangay hall, garbage collection is only done once a week.
Jessie Sala, association vice president for its Banawa chapter, said their group is hopeful that an election of barangay officials will immediately be held if the “yes” votes win.
The Comelec in an earlier statement said the election of new barangay officials , in case a new barangay is created, is not certain because no budget for this has been allocated yet.