Will she or won’t she? That’s the big question confronting suspended Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and her passion to dance in the Sinulog Grand Parade amid the risk that she won’t be allowed back inside the Capitol.
With a six-month preventive suspension hanging over her head and the Court of Appeals broadly hinting that it would shut the door on her petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO), is there anything left for the governor to cling to?
If she elevates her complaint to the Supreme Court, this would take weeks or months, a timie line that would eat up precious campaign time for her bid in Cebu’s 3rd congressional district.
Who can press the Supreme Court to act before May 13 at the convenience of the petitioner?
Since she’s not seeking re-election—in fact her younger brother, Rep. Pablo John Garcia, is supposed to replace her— why stay in the Capitol a day longer than necessary?
After past years of traveling around Cebu and the country especially during the onset of her aborted Senate run and several national TV appearances, it was quite a change for the embattled governor to remain holed up in her office in her last few months as governor.
In fact media scrutiny intensified when she was holed up in her office. To her credit, her local allies and family have played up her plight as un unlikely underdog enough to gain the attention of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), who’ve portrayed her situation as yet another example of Palace tyranny.
Technically, there’s nothing stopping Garcia from stepping out to join the annual Sinulog parade except the fear of being kept out of an office that she should have vacated the day the suspension order was served on Dec. 19, 2012.
Some quarters wish she would go ahead and dance in the Sinulog to end the Capitol impasse on a high note, for a purpose no one can criticize her for — offering her sacrifice, including almost 30 days of being shut in her office as a gift to the Sto. Niño, and Cebuanos who just want peace and and less political drama during Cebu’s biggest festival.
With thousands of visitors coming to Cebu as pilgrims or merrymakers, the only tourist or religious attraction Cebuanos want to showcase is the deep Catholic faith manifested in overflowing Masses at the Basilica del Sto. Niño with the various processions by land and sea, as well as the spectacular parade on Sunday of Sinulog revelers.
It’s a source of embarrassment to include the Provincial Capitol as one of the must-see landmarks for a visitor’s itinerary.
One points at the Capitol dome and the east wing to explain: that’s the self-imposed cell of a suspended governor, who’s been stuck there for Christmas, the New Year, and possibly the whole week of the Sinulog. When Governor Garcia is good and ready, she’ll come out. Nobody knows when.