Simple office for Governor Davide

THE walls have a new coat of beige paint but no photos or self-portraits of the Cebu governor are hung there.
The door connecting to the receiving area is replaced with a frame of glass panels so visitors get a clear view inside of Gov. Hilario Davide III working at his desk or people meeting with him.
Davide yesterday started using his newly renovated office in the east wing, six months after he took his oath and used a temporary office in another hall.
Among his first guests yesterday were Manila Water Co. executive led by its chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Gerry Ablaza, president of Manila Water Co.  Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale was also present for the meeting which took place around three plain circular wooden center  tables.
The new interiors reflect the “simple” style of Davide, said public information officer Ethel Natera, and his administration’s thrust of transparency.
“The concept of the office came from him. He wanted his office to look transparent. There’s a glass door so that people from outside can see him, who he’s talking to,” Natera told reporters.
NEW FURNITURE
Two wooden cabinets and export-quality chairs with cream-colored seats were donated by Cebu furniture maker Mehitabel, said Davide’s wife Jobel who worked with an architect to oversee the renovation.
“They (Mehitabel) donated some furniture and the Capitol purchased the additional pieces,” she told Cebu Daily News. A new hardwood desk for the governor is from Sarah Woodcrafts, a Mandaue-based firm. Jobella said this was her “advance Christmas present” to her husband. A single painting owned by the Capitol hangs in the main office of the governor which has three parts – a receiving area, a conference room beside it, and the main office of the governor.
His side table has a small picture frame of Davide, wife and three daughters, beside an image of the Santo Niño. A few paintings will be added later depicting scenes of “old Cebu”.
The interiors are spartan compared to the office when it was occupied for nine years by then governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who was elected 3rd district representative last May.
The Governor’s Office under her term was a striking display of paintings and portraits of Garcia in several poses. She also had several religious images of the Sto. Nino, the Virgin Mary, San Pedro Calungsod and a miniature sculpture of the Boljoon church on a side table.
The interiors then had  gold drapes and an inner door with faux leather-bound bookcase décor along with a display of plaques from  organizations that acknowledged her service.
However, one design feature of Garcia remains.
HIDDEN QUARTERS
Governor Davide didn’t remove the private side room she built that few  outsiders knew about.
An inner door, designed to look like a book case, leads to a loft  with a bathroom and rest area which Garcia used as sleeping quarters when she holed up in the Capitol to protest her suspension  in December 2012 to January 2013.
A small staircase leads to the upper floor, which has wardrobe shelves, a dressing table. A bed  used to be there but was removed before Davide was sworn in.  Davide’s wife Jobella said the place would be used as a stockroom. “If we take it down, the extent of renovation work would just  grow bigger because the walls of the main office is connected to it,” she said, citing cost and time. “It’s empty now except for the dresser which was left behind. There’s really nothing inside now,” she said. /Peter L. Romanillos, Correspondent