NGOs to choose rep in dev’t council

The Cebu provincial government will meet representatives of accredited non-government (NGO) and civil society organizations (CSO) to choose their next representative in next month’s Provincial Development Council (PDC) meeting.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said unlike previous meetings, the council will vote on their leader. Cebu CFI Community Cooperative Inc. founder Ret. Judge Esperanza Garcia had been the PDC representative for several years now.

“We checked CFI in the records and found out that they did not apply for accreditation. In the time of Governor Gwen (Garcia), they represented in the PDC. Now we will follow the mandate on the processes involved,” Magpale said.

Esperanza Garcia is the mother of former Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and gubernatorial candidate Pablo John Garcia.

Magpale said the elections will be held before PDC’s next meeting on October 15.

Jerome Gonzales, provincial director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will supervise the elections, Magpale said.

“There will be a consultative meeting between DILG province and all the NGOs then they will elect a representative. For the longest time, it was CFI,” she said.

In an earlier interview, former Cebu 2nd District Rep. Pablo Garcia said the CFI need not apply for accreditation since all local government units (LGUs) in the country are mandated by the Cooperative Law to recognize coops.

Magpale said the Provincial Board’s (PB) review of the 1987 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the province and CFI will depend on PB member Grecilda Sanchez.

Sanchez sponsored the resolution which invited the coop’s board of directors in last week’s PB session to explain their full-page advertisement in news dailies addressed to the officials of the provincial government.

“We haven’t discussed that yet. That will depend on the author of the resolution before we decide on the next move,” she said.

During the session, both parties agreed to review the provisions of their MOA since not all of them were practiced anymore. Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos