Garcia wants public to pick opposition bets

CEBU, Philippines - Former Mayor Alvin Garcia yesterday urged Cebuano voters to nominate the persons whom they want to run for the opposition in the May 10, 2009 elections as the opposition leaders will already come up with their final list of candidates next week.

Garcia said he is ready to run again as mayor of Cebu City, particularly because the elections will be automated already, but if there is somebody who is more qualified for the position than he is, he is willing to give him or her the chance.

“Ang akong gusto nga ang katawhan maoy mopili kinsa ang ilang mga padaganong kandidato sa oposisyon, dili sama sa BO-PK (Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan) nga tudlo-tudlo ra kon kinsa ang padaganon nila sa pwesto,” the former mayor said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier said the opposition party in Cebu City has run out of good candidates that is why they are just fielding “recycled losers”.

The former mayor said if his cousin Winston Garcia, the president of the Government Service Insurance System, will really run as mayor of Cebu City he will discuss the issue with the other opposition leaders on the possibility of carrying Winston as the opposition candidate.

After losing to Osmeña first in 2001 and again in the 2004 elections, Garcia said he will only run again if the election process is fully automated.

The Commission on Elections is already prepared to distribute Precinct Count Optical System or the digital ballot scanners to all 81,156 clustered precincts in the country, 630 of them are to be distributed to Cebu City.

But some BO-PK allies said the former mayor may not want to run against Vice Mayor Michael Rama, whom they described as a very powerful candidate for the mayoralty post, because he has served as city councilor for nine straight years and also vice mayor.

Rama, however, said he will consider all candidates for the mayoralty post of Cebu City as strong candidates and he will just campaign hard to ensure his victory.

“I have always been consistent that any opponent should not be taken for granted,” Rama told reporters. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)