Waiting for Gwen: Gov’s Office still locked, Davide may use session hall

Will suspended Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia report to the Capitol today following the lapse of her six-month suspension?

If she does, she won’t be able to occupy her office, which remains dusty and sealed.

Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday postponed a scheduled 10 a.m. opening of the executive office which has been shuttered  since late January.

No representative of Garcia showed up to witness what would have been a cleaning up operation of the east wing office, which Magpale wanted to prepare  for Governor-elect Hilario Davide III when he assumes at noontime of June 30.

Since Garcia’s personal furniture and other belongings are still stored inside, Capitol officials wanted a proper turnover of property.

Faced with a no-show, Mapgale said she would  have to convert the old Capitol social hall as a makeshift office for Davide in case the Governor’s Office is not ready for June 30.

“It is really more of a substitute because the room is still closed. After he (Davide) takes his oath, we will prepare the old Session Hall and just put a table there,” she told reporters yesterday.

Capitol officials are  bracing for Garcia’s return as her 60-day suspension ended yesterday.

However, Garcia also has a scheduled hearing in the Sandiganbayan in Manila on Wednesday for the pre-trial of her graft case in connection with  the Balili land purchase.

Her legal defense  may  be preoccupying  her or, according to some political  observers, discourage her from making any controversial moves in the Capitol in order to avoid a backlash in her court case.

Garcia was served her suspension in Dec. 18, 2012, defied the order from Malacañang  and holed up in the office for almost four weeks before she was locked out after making a trip to south Cebu.

The original plan was for the Provincial General Services to open the governor’s office in the presence of representatives of the suspended governor at 10 a.m.

A letter  informing Garcia of the plan was sent last Friday, but the security guard in Garcia’s home refused to receive the  letter, which was also sent through registered mail.

“We have not entered that room since it was closed. We have to clean the room. I was told that there was  leftover food inside the governor’s office. Remember, that office was used as quarters (by Garcia),” she said.

The governor’s office was sealed last January 31.

The Office of the Special Prosecutors (OSP) has asked the Sandiganbayan to issue a preventive suspension order against Garcia who was elected to represent Cebu’s 3rd district in the 16th Congress, pending trial of her two counts of graft and technical malversation cases.

The charges stemmed over the Capitol’s questionable purchase of the Balili beach property in Naga City, Cebu. /Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos