CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Provincial Board Member Grecilda "Gigi" Sanchez supports the move to convert the western town of Balamban into a component city by third district Representative Gwendolyn Garcia, the political foe of her late father, former vice governor Gregorio Sanchez, Jr.
Sanchez yesterday said she has no objection to the move knowing that Balamban is already "ripe" to become a city with the Transcentral Highway linking the town to Cebu City.
"Maayo kaayo na' nga move ni former governor, now Congresswoman Gwendolyn Garcia," said Sanchez.
Garcia filed House Bill No. 4515 which seeks to convert Balamban into a city.
Balamban is the home of one of the leading medium-sized shipbuilders in the world, Tsuneishi Heavy Industries, (Cebu) Inc. Shipbuilding. Ship repair and manufacturing of outfittings for ships and vessels constitute the main business of the company. THICI supplies medium-sized vessels to different parts of the world.
Sanchez's colleague and relative, PB Member Alex Binghay, had already expressed support to the move when it was first introduced by Garcia's brother, former Rep. Pablo John Garcia, in 2011.
The PB then passed the resolution sponsored by Binghay and former board member Caesar Ian Geronimo Zambo supporting Pablo John's bill, which did not see the light of day at the House of Representatives at that time.
It was Binghay, former mayor of the town, who said earlier that Balamban has met the two requirements set under Republic Act 9009 or the amended Local Government Code of 1991.
The law mandates that a municipality may be converted into a city if it has a locally-generated average annual income, as certified by the Department of Finance, of at least P100 million for the last two consecutive years based on 2,000 constant prices; a contiguous territory of at least 100 square meters as certified by the Land Management Bureau and lastly; a population of not less than 150,000 inhabitants as certified by the National Statistics Office.
To recall, the late vice governor, before his death on April 29, 2011, had filed administrative complaint for usurpation and grave abuse of authority against Garcia before the Office of the President.
He protested that his legislative powers as vice governor were taken out so that he was unable to stop the budget transfer of salaries of his non-regular staff to the Office of the Governor, the removal of his consultants, and the loss of supervision of the Legislative Assistance Fund of the Provincial Board.
His daughter Grecilda pursued the case, which the Department of the Interior and Local Government investigated, resulting to the six-month preventive suspension of Garcia on December 17, 2012. — (FREEMAN)