EDITORIAL - The voice of the people

The partial results of a survey conducted by the Archdiocese of Cebu on the proposals to divide Cebu into four provinces should be enough reason for the proponents of the bills to rethink their position.

For how could the three proponents, congressmen Simeon Kintanar, Antonio Yapha and Clavel Martinez, continue to brag that their proposal is what their constituents want when the Church-initiated survey reveals that the very people they are representing in Congress are against the move of dividing Cebu?

The partial results of the survey revealed that only a few parishioners voted for the proposal in Kintanar's hometown of Argao and Yapha's hometown of Pinamungajan. It was only in Bogo, the bailiwick of Martinez, where the supporters of the proposal showed a good fight. But despite the close fight, those who are for the proposal still lost to those who are against the division of Cebu.

If such were the results of the survey, why then did the three congressmen bravely announce that they are pushing for the approval of the proposed measures because their districts and their constituents want it, owing to the fact that they are not getting anything from the provincial government? What were they thinking about when they used the name of their constituents in promoting their proposed bills?

Though the three have already denied it, we cannot prevent people from thinking that the three legislators pushed for the bills dividing Cebu because they are on their last term and they are desperate to hang on to power. And the results of the Church survey would only reinforce these talks, especially since there is now proof that the constituents of the three congressmen are against the move.

We hope that our congressmen, Kintanar, Yapha and Martinez included, will learn from what has happened. A congressman's duty is to represent his district, his constituents in Congress. They are supposed to bring to Congress the sentiments of the people they are representing. They should bring to Congress the voice of the people who put them into office. They should put the people's concerns first before their own because no matter how they try to conceal their real intentions, the voice of the people will always find a way to be heard.