No bets have signed vs. Sugbuak

Nobody seems to be biting the One Cebu Party bait.

It is still just a week into the senatorial campaign and therefore too early to tell, but based on what has transpired so far, few senate bets are biting, if at all, at the bait Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia has dangled in exchange for the support of her One Cebu Party.

Garcia, who is leading the fight against initiatives to break Cebu into four provinces, has promised to support any senatorial or congressional candidate who will sign a written commitment to fight the initiatives in case they are revived.

The initiatives were led by last-termer Reps. Simeon Kintanar, Antonio Yapha and Clavel Martinez, all of whom sought to convert their congressional districts into three new provinces. All three initiatives were, however, shelved by the House committee on rules before Congress adjourned last week.

But Garcia is not taking chances, and the support she and her new party enjoys from majority of mayors in the province ought to have been enticing enough to candidates, Cebu having the highest voting populations in the country with over two million voters.

Yet, as of yesterday, only administration Team Unity senatorial candidate Prospero Pichay was reported as having expressed willingness to sign a commitment with Garcia. And even that has not been formally verified.

His teammate in the administration ticket, reelectionist senator Joker Arroyo, flatly refused to sign such a covenant, but not because he rejected the cause behind it.

Arroyo said he is actually for the preservation of Cebu as one province but explained that he is not signing any covenant to avoid perceptions that he was interferring in purely local matters.

Arroyo promised to do his part in blocking the " Sugbuak " bills if ever he is reelected and the initiatives reach the Senate.

He said Cebu should be preserved in honor of Cebu's Grand Old Man, President Sergio Osmena Sr., and the other great Cebuanos of his time like Mariano Cuenco and Vicente Sotto who all worked to preserve and protect its identity.

Another senatorial candidate of the administration, Tessie Aquino Oreta, refused to say what her stand was on the matter, saying only that it should be the Cebuanos who must decide on the matter.

" Only the Cebuanos know what is good for their own province. We cannot dictate the Cebuanos on what to do. It should be the Cebuanos who should tell us what to do once we are at the Senate, " Oreta said.

Interestingly, a Cebuano senatorial candidate, comebacking John "Sonny" Osmena is for the creation of new provinces out of the existing one.

Osmena said he has absolute faith in the wisdom of Cebuano voters and is confident that even if he favors the Sugbuak bills, the Cebuanos will still support his comeback bid for the Senate.