Gov. Gwen Garcia's greatest achievement

For tonight's special presentation on Straight from the Sky, we bring you another very important topic on Health. This is a Serious Talk about Prostate Problems, which means, you guys out there ought to sit down before your tv screens and listen intently and find out if you're a candidate for prostate problems. I'm sure your family too would be just as interested in your health as you are. With us to discuss prostate problems is Dr. Alfred Reyes Lazarte, MD, FPSV of the Manila Genitourinary Clinic. So see this very interesting show tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 pm.

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Last Saturday at the Cebu Country Club, we were playing with our usual quorum joking about the potential threat on the life of our golf crony and my own cardiologist, Dr. Generoso "Gene" Matig-a who so bravely proved to Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg that Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) Supreme Master Ruben Ecleo was after all, fit to be in jail because the latter passed his treadmill test.

Indeed, a man with a heart condition won't last five minutes in the treadmill. So therefore, Dr. Matig-a did not only prove that Ecleo was a big liar, his findings also prove that Ecleo's personal physician too lied before the courts presenting him to be a "walking time bomb". Are we seeing a possible charge of falsification against Ecleo's physician before the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC)? I believe this is the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, while we may jest about the threats to the life of Dr. Matig-a, this issue isn't really funny at all because too many people have already died because of this case. The late Atty. Arbet Yongco knew too well never to cross with the Ecleos. She paid dearly with her life for doing that.

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By now, I'm sure that you must have read all the accolades that Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia got from all sectors of Cebu society for her stunning 100-week performance which she elucidated during her State of the Province Address (SOPA) last Friday evening before an SRO Capitol Social Hall. I'm sure you've also read her 12-point program which lead to the Provincial Capitol's solid performance having Cebu Province remain as the premier province of the country with P11.4 billion in assets, P2 billion in cash and a total income increase by 12% to P1.235 billion and no debts! No doubt, all these achievements are something to crow about.

However, I would rather talk about what Gov. Gwen Garcia has done in her first 100 weeks in office that few Cebu governors could ever hope to achieve. If you ask me, the greatest challenge that the Province of Cebu ever faced was not from a foreign aggressor (God knows, 485 years ago, Lapu-Lapu dispatched Ferdinand Magellan with a swift blow of his sword) or a rampaging insurgency which she has recently addressed, but from our very own greedy politicians who wanted to break Cebu piece by little piece so that these last termers could become governors even if it's a tiny piece of Cebu!

Yes, the threat by the Sugbuak proponents caused the silent majority in Cebu to rally behind their first woman governor. Then came the Cebu Archdiocese and the battle lines were drawn. Sugbuak blinked and boinked! Then the Cebu Provincial Board decided also to rally behind Gov. Garcia. Now the embers of this threat are smoldering in the backrooms of the Halls of Congress. Hopefully, it finally gets relegated into the dustbin of history.

With Sugbuak out of the way, Gov. Gwen proceeded to fix whatever was wrong with the way the Cebu Provincial Capitol was run. Now the police stations throughout the Province of Cebu are linked by two-way radios, computers with Internet links and vehicles. No place in Cebu can now be called so far and away like in the old days. In fact, her Tourism Program called Suroy Suroy sa Sugbo has created an economic impact to the far reaches of the Province because now everyone has felt the tourism boom that the folks in Cebu Province have heard so much about.

But perhaps the greatest thing that Gov. Gwen has done for the Province of Cebu is to restore the people's faith, hope and trust; that after all the ugly politics we hear so much about in Manila, isn't happening in own Province of Cebu. With so much assets, cash and no debts, I have a newfound confidence in her SOPA when Gov. Garcia reported that the Tsuneishi Heavy Industries in Balamban offered to put up some P25 million to convert a 10-bed hospital into a 50-bed hospital on the condition that the Province of Cebu operates and manages this facility. This is a private company completely trusting the Cebu Province. Kudos and thanks to Gov. Gwen!

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