BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The One Cebu party remains intact, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said a day after her mother Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia resigned from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
“As far as I know, One Cebu is as united as it can be,” Frasco told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Business Forum here yesterday.
Garcia is the chairperson of One Cebu, which backed the UniTeam alliance of President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte during the 2022 elections. The party aligned with PDP-Laban when Rodrigo Duterte ran for president in 2016.
Duterte is the chairman of PDP-Laban. Frasco served as Sara’s campaign spokesperson in the 2022 elections.
On Tuesday, Garcia resigned from PDP-Laban, citing the complaint filed against her before the Office of the President by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who is the party’s vice president for the Visayas.
The governor said the complaint, which alleged that she had abused her authority and committed grave misconduct and graft when she halted the civil works of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project, has created “irreconcilable conflict.”
As this developed, Mayor Jonas Cortes of Mandaue City resigned from PDP-Laban yesterday, citing his “own desire to continue the unity forged under Gov. Gwen Garcia and maintain Mandaue under the banner of One Cebu.”
“As the mayor of Mandaue City, my priority is to align with initiatives that promote and serve our community’s best interest,” Cortes said in a letter to PDP-Laban president Jose Alvarez. - The Freeman