Suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday denied that she was merely looking for a graceful exit, saying she had plans to return to her office until she learned that acting Gov. Agnes Magpale had already closed it down.
She said she left her office to answer to the “clamor” of the people who wanted to see her. Instead, Magpale was “ungraceful” and closed her office.
“This is a political nightmare for them, leading to their political suicide,”the feisty Garcia said.
Also yesterday, Malacañang expressed relief that Garcia has finally been been locked out of her office at the provincial capitol, ending a potentially costly political stand-off with the Aquino administration.
President Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, defended Magpale’s order to padlock Garcia’s office on Wednesday when she sneaked out to go to Oslob town, over a month after barricading herself inside in defiance of a suspension order from Malacañang.
Issue settled
The order that effectively locked Garcia out “settles the issue,” Lacierda said at a Malacañang news briefing.
“The issue will move from the provincial capitol to the courts as it should rightly be,” he said.
“This is now a legal case. From the very start, we hold that the suspension has validity and it will stand legal scrutiny.”
The stand-off at the Capitol, prompted by Garcia’s decision to hole herself up in her office in defiance of her suspension from Dec. 19 last year, had threatened to blow up anytime.
Since Garcia did not show any signs of budging, it would have been costly for the national government to move in and forcibly take her out, so the the administration chose to wait for the Court of Appeals’ ruling on her petition to nullify the suspension order.
The opportunity to end the stand-off came when Garcia sneaked out late Tuesday night to inaugurate a briefing center of the Oslob Whale Watching Program in Oslob town the next day. While she was out, Magpale ordered provincial administrator Eduardo Habin to padlock her office.
The Office of the President, on the recommendation of the Department of Interior and Local Government, ordered Garcia’s relief for grave abuse of authority for usurping the powers of the vice governor.
Garcia left her office for the first time on Jan. 20 to join the Sinulog Grand Parade at the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand, and went back.
Malacañang stood by Magpale’s order to padlock Garcia’s office, citing the suspension order against her.
Laundry area
“Since the Office of the Governor is being turned into a laundry area according to Governor Magpale and since former Governor Garcia left the office, I understand, stealthily, or surreptitiously, it was deemed by acting Governor Magpale best to just close the office,” Lacierda said.
Magpale said she had been tolerating Garcia’s presence in the Capitol for over a month. She said Garcia’s act of sneaking out was a mockery of the President’s order.
She said Garcia’s supporters turned the Capitol’s offices into sleeping quarters, and did their laundry there.
Garcia said she will not force her way back to her office.
She said she plans instead to go around the towns and cities in the province in line with the wishes of the people who want to see her and to report to them how she was being bullied by Magpale and the Liberal Party.
“Most of the time, I will be in different municipalities and barangays. I hope to reach several people to whom I will report how Magpale, Central Visayas regional police director Chief Supt. Marcelo) Garbo, and the Liberal Party (LP) oppressed me,” she told reporters after she visited the Mantalongon Livestock Market in Barili town yesterday.
But Magpale said Garcia might just be looking for a graceful exit.
She pointed out that Garcia had all the time to return to the Capitol when she left her office at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. But she didn’t and instead went to Oslob town.
Tired
Magpale said they decided to padlock her office at 2 p.m. Wednesday, more than 16 hours after Garcia left.
“My feeling is she wanted to leave (the Capitol) because she was feeling tired (of staying inside the office),” she said.
She said she would transfer to Garcia’s office when it is cleared of the suspended official’s personal belongings. She would then give up the Office of the Vice Governor to acting Vice Gov. Julian Daan.
“He presently occupies a small room. If the Governor’s Office is ready, I think I’ll have to move there. The problem, however, is that the key is with them,” she told Cebu Daily News.
Magpale said an inventory was being conducted to determine which items belonged to the province and which belonged to Garcia. All personal belongings of Garcia would be returned to her.
Magpale, who presently occupies the Vice Governor’s Office at the Legislative Building, said there are suggestions that she use the old session hall which was transformed into a receiving room inside the Capitol.
“I really do not want to destroy the lock of the Governor’s Office,” she said.
Magpale said she is willing to face the charges that will be filed by Garcia.
“We’re waiting what charges they are going to file. We are ready,” she said.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu’s third district, said their lawyers are preparing the charges against those who padlocked the Governor’s Office.
“Of course, it is illegal. Human rights were violated in the processing of closing down the Governor’ Office. Our lawyers are meeting as we speak to prepare the necessarcy complaints. Althouth we don’t want to telegraph our puches, its clear that a the crime of coercion was commited and there was unnecessary use of force,” he said.
Pablo John said they have the names of almost all police officers who padlocked the Governor’s Office.
“What they did was a knee-jerk reaction. They knew that the governor was no longer inside,” he said.
“Where were these policemen when a Canadian national shot dead a lawyer and a physician inside the Palace of Justice which is located a few meters from the Capitol?,” he added.
Pablo John nonetheless lauded the policemen for a dramatic closure of the Governor’s Office.
“Thank you for a very wonderful production number. It was a very bid production number. Why is there a yellow line placed around the entrance leading to the Governor’s Office? Is that a Scene of the Crime line? No. That’s what you call ‘tie a yellow ribbon’ to signify the color of the Liberal Party,” he said.
The legal officer of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said they do not find anything wrong with Magpale’s directive to close the Governor’s Office . Atty. Ayesh Nogra said that as acting governor, it is Magpale’s call to decide on whatever she wants to do with the offices inside the provincial capitol. “Ang management man gud anang government building, part na sa iyang trabaho, sa administrative function (The management of a government building is part of her job, in her administrative function)” she said.
Judgement call
She added that Magpale’s order did not need their approval. “Judgement call na na niya, dili na kami ana. Naa na sila’y local autonomy. Dili na na sila mag-agad namo pirmi (It is her jugment call, not ours. They have local autonomy. They do not have to depend on us everytime)”, she said.
She said that any suspended official is no longer be entitled to an office. “Bisan kinsa man tingali ang makasabot ana. If you’re not doing an official function, then why do you have to maintain an office?” the lawyer asked.
She said if Garcia wishes to continue functioning as a governor on her own, she should look for another office to occupy outside the Capitol building.
Countryside jaunts
Garcia yesterday continued with her countryside jaunts. She was in the public market of Barangay Mantalongon in Barili town where she held a news conference. From Barili, her hometown, she was to proceed to Naga town. Garcia went to Barili to meet and greet the people at the Mantalongon Livestock Market. Garcia was with her mother, retired judge Esperanza Garcia, and brothers Rep. Pablo John Garcia and Byron Garcia./with Patricia Andrea Pateña, Edison A. Delos Angeles, Gabriel C. Bonjoc and Christine Emily L. Pantaleon