CEBU CITY, Philippines—A close collaboration between the national government and Province of Cebu.
This is Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s ’small request’ to the new administration led by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Garcia, in a virtual briefing, asked the new Cabinet members to consider the “humble inputs and insights” of local government units in Central Visayas in choosing new directors for the regional offices of national government agencies.
“It would be nice if there would be this close collaboration between the national government offices and the Provincial Government of Cebu, even as I understand as well, that would also be the wish of all other chief executives of the four provinces and the cities and municipalities in Region 7,” said Garcia.
The governor stressed the importance of cooperation between local government units (LGUs) and national government agencies, adding that it helped Cebu province come up with policies and measures in responding to the recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Typhoon Odette.
Garcia said she understands the new Secretaries’ right to choose as to who will be their counterparts in Central Visayas.
“So that is my small request, that we will be able to give also our own humble inputs and insights in the choice of regional directors that would be working very, very closely with the Cebu Provincial Government,” Garcia said.
“Because as what has been shown during these most difficult three years of my previous term, it really helps a lot that the regional directors of these different government agencies are in sync with the Cebu Provincial Government,” she added.
On the other hand, Garcia commended the concurrent and former Central Visayas directors of the Department of Tourism (Shalimar Tamano), Department of Health (Dr. Jaime Bernadas), Department of Education (Dr. Salustiano Jimenez), Department of Social Welfare and Development (Shalaine Lucero), Department of Interior and Local Government (Leocaldo Trovela), Land Transportation Office (Victor Caindec), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (Eduardo Montealto Jr.), to name a few.
The governor thanked them for their time and imparting their ‘institutional knowledge’ with the province.
“They have been with us, they have institutional knowledge. And they have proven themselves to be valuable in the post-pandemic stage,” said Garcia.
/bmjo
READ MORE:
Cebu is the best so don’t settle for just a ‘better Cebu’ – Gwen
Gwen: No to Province of Mactan