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CEBU CITY, Philippines – For the first time since the Osmeñas of Cebu City and the Garcias of Cebu Province exchanged harsh words, Representative Pablo “Pabling” Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) on Monday spoke out against the “personal attacks” of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Garcia said that while he does not want to meddle in the dispute between Capitol and City Hall, Osmeña’s recent statements had “stepped on the boundaries of propriety” when the mayor accused the Garcias of taking over things that they do not own.
“I can only say that he is not very good with precision bombing. In his attack against the Capitol, there has been collateral damage. The attack was not directed at the Capitol but my family,” said Garcia, father of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
The mayor’s statement stemmed from the conflict of the two local governments over control of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD). The Capitol recently contested authority over the water distributor, which has been under City Hall control since its inception.
The Capitol claimed that the number of MCWD connections in Cebu City has dropped below 75 of the water distributor’s total connections. This, Capitol said, should have caused control of MCWD to lapse from the mayor to the governor, based on provisions in the Act creating MCWD.
The governor filed with the court a petition for declaratory relief over MCWD control. But while the petition was still pending in court, Osmeña continued exerting his authority over MCWD by appointing a new member to the board of directors, irking Capitol officials.
The governor filed contempt charges against Osmeña.
“The issue here was the controversy on the MCWD deal and who has the power to appoint. This is a purely legal point, but the mayor did not argue from a legal point of view maybe of course because he is not a lawyer,” said Garcia.
He said the mayor has effectively resorted to attacking personalities instead of tackling the issue over the MCWD board.
Garcia countered that in Cebu’s political history, it is not a Garcia but an Osmeña who had a track record of “taking over properties that he did not own.”
He cited former Cebu City mayor Sergio Osmeña Jr., father of the incumbent mayor, who allegedly facilitated the donation of 210 parcels of province owned lots totaling to 180 hectares to the city.
Garcia said the mayor should stick to the issues, since attacking families may dig up histories that could backfire on the mayor.
“Having served the province and the country for such length of time, nobody had accused me of taking a property privately owned that does not rightfully belong to me. All my life I have instilled that on my children,” Garcia said.
He said he could see old feuds between Cebuano political families resurfacing. He said there was even a possibility that Osmeña, who earlier endorsed Vice Mayor Michael Rama for the mayoralty in the 2010 elections, could later field a candidate against Rama.
The congressman said that it may also be possible for Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district), a long-time Osmeña ally, to field a candidate for mayor.
Osmeña, Rama and Cuenco belong to the same political party, Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), led by Osmeña.
But Garcia said he was sure that Osmeña would not support Rama in 2010.
“Tomas is the last Osmeña standing. I would like to think that the Osmeñas would put up an Osmeña (in the Cebu City election),” he said.
If that happens, Garcia said he would back Rama’s bid for the mayoralty.
Asked if his son, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) General Manager Winston Garcia, would run for mayor, Garcia did not give a categorical answer.
Osmeña, for his part, denied that he would turn his back on Rama in 2010.
The mayor said his concern was not about familial continuity in politics but how well a person could manage the city.
Osmeña also said that he was not affected by Garcia’s statement to back Rama in the 2010 elections.
“They can back anyone,” Osmeña said, adding that the Garcias would back anyone who would run against him.
“If Margot will run against me, they'll support her,” said the mayor, referring to his wife.
Osmeña said the only way the Garcias could defeat his BO-PK candidate is to support another BO-PK candidate.
“All they (Garcias) are offering (for the 2010 elections) are recycled losers. They are offering the most experienced losers in the city. It’s a big insult to the Cebuanos,” the mayor said.
