Gwen cites P28.6-B assets, new ‘unity’ with Cebu City

Cebu province remains strong.

This was how Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia described Cebu during her annual State of the Province Address (Sopa) last night.

Still debt-free, Cebu province has assets that grew from P20 billion in 2009 to P28.6 billion as of December last year, she said.

With this financial standing, “Cebu is richer by a mile than the next richest province.”

The governor, who is serving her third and last term, delivered a 50-minute speech citing accomplishments of her administration, including a newfound “unity” with Cebu City through Mayor Michael Rama.

Cebu City had its own day of glory during a separate ceremony yesterday where cultural ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) declared the metropolis a “City of Culture” at the Radisson Blu ballroom. (See page 4.)

Garcia’s family members—father Pablo and brother Pablo John, both Cebu congressmen—were among the guests, including Capitol officials, the consular corps and businessmen gathered in the Capitol Social Hall. They applauded 45 times.

“And as though by force of habit, and as a matter of course, this year, I am proud to announce that the state of this great province is strong—stronger than we have ever been, and stronger than any other province in this country is or can ever hope to be,” the governor said.

(The use of “strong province” echoed former President Gloria Macapagal’s “strong republic” theme in her 2002 State of the Nation Address, which became a signature description for the Arroyo administration.)

In her speech, Garcia thanked Mayor Rama for making a “perilous journey” from City Hall to attend the Sopa at the Capitol.

The mayor’s camaraderie and personal cooperation with Garcia in projects is a source of friction with his former allies in the City Council, whose party leader Rep. Tomas Osmeña has been a bitter critic of the governor since 2007.

“For too long, we had labored under artificial boundaries, which selfish interests have drawn between the Province and the City,” Garcia said.

“But there is only one Cebu. And there are not two Cebuanos, but one proud Cebuano people, eagerly waiting to celebrate once more the unity in spirit that has always been there; the one destiny we’ve always shared since our common beginning. This unity is such that if one reads our history, those who have sought to divide us have but one fate: the enduring darkness of eternal irrelevance.”

Garcia, who told a nationwide TV talk show in summer that she was “keeping my options open” after 2013 on whether to run for higher office, did not discuss political plans.

What she said last night was that she would continue working as long as “people are waiting.”

“Are the people still waiting?” she said, after relating an anecdote about Bantayan island folk whom she visited in rough weather to “sum up what these seven years have all been about.”

“If they are—and they are—then there is work to be done, and we will take that stormy trip, we will make that dangerous journey again and again.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

Cebu province’s revenues reached P2.085 billion compared to P1.676 billion in 2009.

With this wealth, Garcia said her administration has been able to “invest” in a 12-point agenda whose targets for infrastructure and delivery of services she set seven years ago at the start of her first term.

The gains include the following:

• Asphalting of 773 kilometers or beyond the target 400 kilometers of roads, paving “more roads than at any other time in this province’s history”;

• Concreting of all 80 wooden bridges in the province, including national bridges;

• Building 858 classrooms, 59 water systems;

• Constructing and upgrading provincial hospitals in the cities of Carcar and Danao and the rehabilitation of the Balamban District Hospital;

Looking ahead, Garcia said the Capitol would complete finishing touches in the renovation of the Cebu Performing Arts Center in the UP campus in Lahug and inaugurate it on August 12.

Garcia cited improved water and power supply as a “trailblazing” accomplishment.

She said the Capitol successfully negotiated with a consortium led by Manila Water and was now inviting bids to compare with the unsolicited offer for the Carmen Bulk Water Project.

Her administration’s “all-out support for our power generators,” she said, led to the inauguration last June 27 of the 200-megawatt Kepco-Salcon coal-fired plant in Naga City and the commercial operation of a 246-megawat plant of CEDCO in Toledo City last March, adding 436 megawatts to Cebu’s base load capacity.

Garcia said two “historic” agreements in 2009 eased the impact of brownout through an interruptible load agreement with power utilities and a Power Swap Agreement to make surplus power from Panay available to Cebu.

In other accomplishments, she said the province

• Distributed more than 409,736 health insurance cards to indigent families and enrolled 45,104 barangay officials and workers under the GSIS group accident insurance;

• Planted 1,700 hectares of camote or sweet potato under the Saksak program for food security;

• Fed 62,229 malnourished children, giving an 87-90 percent rehabilitation rate;

• Enrolled 17,000 farmers and fisherfolks under the Philippine Crop Insurance System;

• Enrolled 385 scholars under the Cebu Tertiary Education Assistance Program;

• Arranged the surrender of 91 communist rebels making Cebu still an “insurgency-free” province;

• Planted 4.9 million surviving trees and 1.6 million mangrove plants;

For tourism, Garcia said her administration

• Established 49 festivals in Cebu’s towns and cities to promote awareness of culture and heritage with the Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo countryside program to promote awareness of culture and heritage;

• Established international working relations with 14 provinces across Asia, Europe and US;

• Signed up 400 exhibitors for this August’s One Cebu Expo;

• Provided 43,373 sanitary toilets for households.