Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, presidential assistant for the Visayas, has assured that there are no charges awaiting Cebu Provincial Governor Gwendolyn Garcia over the policies of the province on Returning Overseas Filipinos.
It can be remembered that Garcia recently made a statement saying she might be facing charges of insubordination because of Cebu’s policies on ROF that deviated from the national policy of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
“I know for a fact that there are no plans of filing a case against the governor. I sat in a meeting together with President Duterte, ES (Executive Secretary) Salvador Medialdea and Sen. Christopher ‘Bong’ Go discussing this issue last night, and I personally confirmed from them that Secretaries (Eduardo) Año, (Menardo) Guevarra, and (Harry) Roque had no intentions of filing (a) suit,” said the secretary.
In an interview with radio station, DYSS, on May 28, 2021, Garcia revealed that days prior to President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to redirect all international flights bound to the Mactan Cebu International Airport, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has asked her to suspend her executive order and the provincial ordinance on the ROF entry.
Garcia refused and stood by her decision. Even then, she was already informed that the flight redirection was among the options that the national government had been considering.
The governor said in a previous statement that the charges of insubordination may be filed against her for allegedly refusing to follow the national policy.
This time, Dino belied the “rumors” and assured the Cebuanos that there would be no legal battle over the issue.
“In fact, on Monday, Gov. Gwen and I will have an audience with President Duterte himself to present the situation in Cebu: our current process and protocols, as well as our best practices such as the EOC, Project Balik Buhay and VVOC, to name a few. This is to find a win-win situation that would work for both the national government and the Province of Cebu,” he added.
READ: Garcia to personally meet with President Duterte to present Cebu figures
The secretary said that while the national government policies should be complied with, his office was supporting the Visayas local government units (LGUs) that had proven their best practices in lowering their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, reopening their economy, and revitalizing the tourism.
The goal is to alleviate the plight of the ROFs including overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) whose welfare should be considered in deciding for health protocols that should be pro-people, pro-health, and pro-economy.
“In hindsight, it is all about striking a balance between public health and economy as we learn to live with COVID-19,” said Dino.
/dbs
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