Garcia highlights savings, recovery of Capitol properties in first 100 days report
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia spent her 64th birthday at work. The lady governor briefed Cebuanos Saturday night, October 12, of what she has done so far during her first 100 days in office. | Rosalie O. Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The implementation of cost-cutting measures and the recovery of provincial properties were her biggest accomplishments during her first 100 days in office.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia made a run-through of what she has done so far in a 30-minute video presentation Saturday night, October 12. Her State of the Province Address (SOPA) also coincided with her 64th birthday celebration.
The governor said in an earlier interview that her first 100 days in office will be reflective of the direction that her administration will take in the next three years.
But her predecessor, Vice Governor Hilario Davide III, was not around to listen to Garcia’s report.
Among those in attendance were Presidential Assistant to the Visayas Michael Dino, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and Vice Mayor Michael Rama among others.
In her report, Garcia said the provincial government is expected to incur at least P300 million in savings with her decision to “rightsize” the number of casual and job order employees.
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“Before our cost-cutting measures were implemented, there were over 2,141 casual and job order employees whose salaries amounted to P564 million annually,” she said.
The governor also took pride in her administration’s policy to already outsource medical and clerical personnel starting on October 1.
At present, the Capitol now has around 1,200 casual and outsourced employees.
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Garcia also ordered the downgrading of four departments into divisions that will now be placed under the Office of the Governor. Downgrading is expected to earn around P100 million in savings.
“These savings can now be diverted to infrastructure and livelihood projects that will uplift the lives of the Cebuanos… The millions of savings that we will incur from the outsourcing, we will pour into hospitals and other projects in the form of equipment and other needs,” Garcia said.
In addition to savings that she incurred, Garcia also led the recovery of Capitol properties that were disposed of through agreements entered into by former governor Davide.
Read More: Garcia to retrieve “illegally” disposed Capitol assets
“We soon found out that a number of provincial properties were disposed of or were the subject of grossly disadvantageous agreements. Concerned at this brazen disregard for the patrimony of the Province, we embarked on a relentless crusade to recover these properties,” Garcia said.
Among the properties recovered were the over 800-square meter provincial lot located along Salinas Driver in Cebu City that was leased to a real estate company; over 5,000-square meters of lot covering five access roads that leads to the Cebu IT Park; and the 29-hectare lot in Sta. Fe town where the Bantayan Island Airport sits.
Lawyer Marino Martinquilla, Garcia’s legal consultant, earlier said that the lease contract entered into by the Davide administration with the real estate company was irregular as it did not go through bidding and lacked authority from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
In August, Innoland Development Corp. already turnover over to Capitol the 849-square meter lot located along Salinas Drive, Cebu City which they used for their P25-million showroom.
Read More: Innoland Development Corp. officially turns over province-owned property in Lahug
Also for recovery are lots occupied the five access roads to Cebu IT Park that were previously surrendered to Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. (CPVDC) for use as road right of way for the Filinvest Cyberzone Complex (FCC).
FCC is a joint venture of Cebu province and Filinvest Land Inc. through a Build, Transfer, and Operate (BTO) scheme. This means that the province allowed FLI to develop the 12,000-square-meter lot located inside Cebu IT Park. But once the developments are complete, FLI will have to turn over full ownership of the edifices to the Capitol.
In exchange, FLI enjoys a renewable term of 25 years to operate in FCC. FLI also rents the lot where the FCC stands for about P600,000 monthly while the province still gets a share of two percent of FCC’s annual gross revenue or P500,000 per month, whichever is higher.
Last October 8, FLI turned over tower 2 of the FCC to the Cebu provincial government. The first tower has already been turned over in 2016. The two towers add at least P3 billion to the Capitol’s assets which, in 2018, stood at P34 billion. / dcb
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