Gov retains private room

Gov. Hilario Davide III works in his newly renovated office (top photo). A door at the right leads to a private conference room and loft built by former Gov. Gwen Garcia, whose dressing table and shelves of a walk-in closet were retained.

The newly renovated Office of the Governor had a traditional blessing and “house warming” yesterday.
A priest said prayers as he went around sprinkling holy water on the new brown-and-cream interiors of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III’s main o ffice, reception area and conference room at the Capitol.
The tour allowed guests to enter an inner door into what used to be the private quarters of its former occupant, then governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
A loft at the top of a small staircase was built during Garcia’s term. It was largely unknown to outsiders and kept off limits except to close staff. This was where she sometimes slept and kept a walk-in closet with a separate staircase to the basement that led to the Capitol garage, a discreet exit and entrance.

Davide, who assThe newly renovated Office of the Governor had a traditional blessing and “house warming” yesterday.
A priest said prayers as he went around sprinkling holy water on the new brown-and-cream interiors of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III’s main o ffice, reception area and conference room at the Capitol.
The tour allowed guests to enter an inner door into what used to be the private quarters of its former occupant, then governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
A loft at the top of a small staircase was built during Garcia’s term. It was largely unknown to outsiders and kept off limits except to close staff. This was where she sometimes slept and kept a walk-in closet with a separate staircase to the basement that led to the Capitol garage, a discreet exit and entrance.
Davide, who assumed as governor in July said he had no plans to use it as a sleeping quarters.
“I never lie down in the office, I only sleep in the house. But I don’t know, maybe I will use that as a stockroom. I haven’t really given that much thought,” he said in an interview.
His decision to retain the private room seemed at odds with the main changes he ordered for the Governor’s Office to reflect his preference for simplicity and “transparency” – no paintings or portraits of himself hang on the walls, and a main door of glass panels was added so that visitors could look inside and see the governor and who he was meeting.
Davide echoed the earlier explanation of his wife, Jobella, who oversaw the renovation work: Tearing down the inner room would be costly and delay his transfer from the makeshift office he’s been occupying for six months at the Governors Gallery.
“If we destroy it, the adjacent room would get affected as well. It would turn out to be more expensive too,” said Davide.
“Maybe you, the media can rest there if you want to,” he added in jest.
Even Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who was named acting governor in December 2012 when Garcia was placed by Malacañang on six-month suspension as a penalty for usurpation, said she had never seen the private room until Garcia’s term ended in June 30.
“I thought that was a library,” she said, referring to the door, whose facade used to look like an elegant book case of leather-bound books. The painted design was an illusion. It has been replaced with a plain wooden door.
The first floor of the private chambers and the rest of the office was blessed by Msgr. Agustin Ancajas yesterday. He didn’t go upstairs though.
At the top of the steps is a carpeted loft with built-in shelves lining the walls of a walk-in closet, and a dressing table of antique design. All were left behind by the former governor, when Cebu Daily News first viewed the place last July, during Davide’s inauguration ceremony.
A bed used to occupy the private room when Garcia protested her suspension and refused to leave her Capitol office for over five weeks in December 2012 to January 2013. The bed is gone,

but a new overhead split-type air-conditioner is ready to use and a low table was added in the room.
A bathroom in the landing was also upgraded with a sliding-glass door and interiors.
Another office feature retained by Davide is a small conference room behind the door. An eight-seater wooden table is paired with flat-screen television which, according to the governor’s wife, will be used for Davide’s “private meetings.”
Some municipal mayors from south Cebu allied with the Liberal Party, Magpale, and Jobella attended the short blessing rites of the office before lunch was served.
Also present was Josephine Aboitiz Booth, former president of Mehitabel, the Cebu export firm that provided some of the new furniture – two wooden book cases, cream-upholstered visitor chairs, and small wooden center tables. Mehitabel donated a study desk that ended up being used by the governor’s chief of staff since Davide was gifted by his wife with a large, hardwood office table which is positioned on the other end of the room, opposite from Garcia’s old location.
Walls were repainted from white to mocha, and gold curtains were replaced with taupe drapes. A heavy couch from the Capitol’s VIP room was added for a sitting area. An oil painting for a church courtyard in rural Cebu is the only artwork for now on the wall.
The architect who helped pull together the new look was Rene Ybanez, a classmate from UP Cebu high school who worked pro bono.
The overall minimalist look suits Davide’s style of low-key simplicity, said Ethel Natera, provincial information officer. /Correspondent Peter L. Romanillos and Eileen G. Mangubatumed as governor in July said he had no plans to use it as a sleeping quarters.
“I never lie down in the office, I only sleep in the house. But I don’t know, maybe I will use that as a stockroom. I haven’t really given that much thought,” he said in an interview.
His decision to retain the private room seemed at odds with the main changes he ordered for the Governor’s Office to reflect his preference for simplicity and “transparency” – no paintings or portraits of himself hang on the walls, and a main door of glass panels was added so that visitors could look inside and see the governor and who he was meeting.
Davide echoed the earlier explanation of his wife, Jobella, who oversaw the renovation work: Tearing down the inner room would be costly and delay his transfer from the makeshift office he’s been occupying for six months at the Governors Gallery.
“If we destroy it, the adjacent room would get affected as well. It would turn out to be more expensive too,” said Davide.
“Maybe you, the media can rest there if you want to,” he added in jest.
Even Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who was named acting governor in December 2012 when Garcia was placed by Malacañang on six-month suspension as a penalty for usurpation, said she had never seen the private room until Garcia’s term ended in June 30.
“I thought that was a library,” she said, referring to the door, whose facade used to look like an elegant book case of leather-bound books. The painted design was an illusion. It has been replaced with a plain wooden door.
The first floor of the private chambers and the rest of the office was blessed by Msgr. Agustin Ancajas yesterday. He didn’t go upstairs though.
At the top of the steps is a carpeted loft with built-in shelves lining the walls of a walk-in closet, and a dressing table of antique design. All were left behind by the former governor, when Cebu Daily News first viewed the place last July, during Davide’s inauguration ceremony.
A bed used to occupy the private room when Garcia protested her suspension and refused to leave her Capitol office for over five weeks in December 2012 to January 2013. The bed is gone, but a new overhead split-type air-conditioner is ready to use and a low table was added in the room.
A bathroom in the landing was also upgraded with a sliding-glass door and interiors.

Another office feature retained by Davide is a small conference room behind the door. An eight-seater wooden table is paired with flat-screen television which, according to the governor’s wife, will be used for Davide’s “private meetings.”
Some municipal mayors from south Cebu allied with the Liberal Party, Magpale, and Jobella attended the short blessing rites of the office before lunch was served.
Also present was Josephine Aboitiz Booth, former president of Mehitabel, the Cebu export firm that provided some of the new furniture – two wooden book cases, cream-upholstered visitor chairs, and small wooden center tables. Mehitabel donated a study desk that ended up being used by the governor’s chief of staff since Davide was gifted by his wife with a large, hardwood office table which is positioned on the other end of the room, opposite from Garcia’s old location.
Walls were repainted from white to mocha, and gold curtains were replaced with taupe drapes. A heavy couch from the Capitol’s VIP room was added for a sitting area. An oil painting for a church courtyard in rural Cebu is the only artwork for now on the wall.
The architect who helped pull together the new look was Rene Ybanez, a classmate from UP Cebu high school who worked pro bono.
The overall minimalist look suits Davide’s style of low-key simplicity, said Ethel Natera, provincial information officer.