Gov. Gwen Garcia's greatest achievements

For our special presentation on our talkshow Straight from the Sky, we have a heart-to-heart talk with former Chief Justice Renato Corona who was in Cebu last Wednesday to have this taped interview and on the following day, he was the special guest of the Rotary Club of Cebu (Mother). After his speech, where the former Chief Justice was given a standing ovation, he gave me a copy of his speech, which I already used in my Star column last Saturday.

I found CJ Corona and his wife Tina to be simple people… with no flair. Perhaps the reason why CJ Corona was given a standing ovation after he delivered his speech was due to the fact that he didn’t have any rancor against Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III despite what he’s been through. A lesser man would have been filled with vengeance but we didn’t see that with CJ Corona. So it was indeed an honor for me to have been chosen by CJ Corona as the first full-hour TV interview outside Metro Manila. So watch this very interesting heart-to-heart talk with CJ Corona on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm with replays on MyTV channel 28 on MWF at 7:00am, 12:00 noon and 7:00pm.

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No, I couldn’t go to the State of the Province Address (SOPA) of Gov. Gwen F. Garcia because I got too tired after playing golf early in the morning at the PLDT-Can Cham tournament in Alta Vista. But since I knew that the event would be well covered by the media, you can say that I didn’t miss anything. Of course we were not able to meet the political personalities from Metro Manila led by Vice-Pres. Jejomar Binay and Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrile. But then, I really couldn’t care if I don’t “press the flesh” with these guys. In my book these politicians seem to have their smiles “sewed” into their faces. But I don’t see any sincerity in these smiles.

Anyway looking back at the SOPA of Gov. Gwen, it seems that this was no ordinary SOPA, which talks about her accomplishments in the last three years, rather it did look like it showed what she had done for the Province of Cebu since 2004. I’m sure that you’ve read all those accomplishments. But if you ask me, there are two major accomplishments that Gov. Garcia did that changed the course of Cebu history. The first and perhaps the greatest is her Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo, which later gave birth to her Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival of Festivals that triggered a cultural rebirth of Cebu.

While Cebu enjoyed the Cebooom since the mid-80s, our tourism success was limited to Metro Cebu, especially around Mactan Island. Gov. Gwen’s Suroy-Suroy program ushered our tourism growth to include the far-flung areas of Cebu, where tourism was unheard of. In the past, only places like Moalboal, Argao or Bantayan Island shared the tourism boom.

Today, you will see tourists everywhere even in the farthest areas of the Province of Cebu, like Malapascua in Daanbantayan or Camotes Island, where tourism has changed the lives of the people. Bantayan Island, which used to get a smattering of tourists now has many resorts for tourists to choose. If you understood the formula that a single tourist would employ so many people… then you could say that the tourism boom in Cebu Province has also given a tremendous boost to the Cebu economy.

This is where I give credit to Gov. Gwen because selling Cebu Province isn’t that easy and she did it all in her three terms. Her second greatest achievement was when she announced her all out war against the communist insurgency and what breeds their kind. That was in the 2005 and seven years later, the New People’s Army (NPA) hasn’t returned to Cebu with the vengeance that they promised.

When Gov. Gwen made that declaration, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) swore that the streets of Cebu would turn into bloody rivers. Nothing of that sort has happened and in fact a year after her declaration, two NPAs were caught for extortion activities in Talisay. The impact to Cebu by this declaration was a genuine peace and order. Without this peace and order, the Suroy-Suroy program of Gov. Gwen would have ground to a halt. This is why I say that these are the two greatest achievements of Gov. Gwen F. Garcia.

As for her troubles with the Office of the Ombudsman, I don’t blame her for calling it harassment. Due to a busy schedule, I wasn’t able to attend last Tuesday’s 888 Forum where Rep. Tomas Osmeña was the lone guest. It was in that forum where he announced that the suspension order for Gov. Gwen was already signed.

No doubt, Rep. Tommy was right on the nail on that announcement, which makes us all ask… how did he know? That Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales was appointed by Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III and even testified against CJ Corona in the Senate impeachment trial, so we can only reckon that someone in her office “leaked” this information to Rep. Osmeña. So will there be an investigation into this? I certainly doubt it.

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