One Cebu gubernatorial bet Winston Garcia (left) and his running mate Nerissa Soon Ruiz huddle together after their closed-door meeting with barangay officials and former barangay officials from Argao at City Sports Club. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
At least 30 incumbent and ex-barangay officials met with One Cebu Party yesterday to express their support for gubernatorial bet Winston Garcia.
Garcia however said he “cannot confirm or deny” if they were Liberal Party (LP) members from Argao town.
The village chiefs were invited to a closed-door meeting held at the City Sports Club at around 11 a.m. yesterday. A source said the invitation came from former Rep. Pablo Garcia, Winston’s father.
“I don’t know them… I was meeting with fellow Cebuanos who wanted to support my bid for governor because they believe in my platform,” said Winston in an interview after the meeting.
The older Garcia told CDN that their guests were a mixture of former village chiefs and incumbent village chiefs from Argao and other parts of Cebu, who are disappointed with Gov. Hilario Davide III because they did not get any projects. Davide is a native of Argao.
“Kon duna man ugali, mura ug selective kuno. Sila nga wala kaayo maila nga mokuyog nila, dili tagaan ug mga kaayohan so mao nga sila mokuyog sila sa One Cebu (And if there are projects, it is only in selected barangays. Those who were not identified to be their supporter are not given projects so they decided to go with One Cebu),” the older Garcia explained.
The closed-door meeting lasted for about two hours.
CONFIDENCE
Davide expressed confidence that the barangay captains in his hometown support him and LP standard bearer Mar Roxas.
The governor also belied reports that he is selective in giving projects, the reason why the village chiefs are disappointed.
“You better ask the barangay captains yourself. Those who are saying that, are entitled to their opinion, but why would you believe them? They probably aren’t from Argao,” he told Cebu Daily News. Davide added that he also hasn’t heard of reports that barangay captains in Argao are dropping the Liberal Party (LP). Vice Mayor Stanley Caminero, LP’s mayoralty bet in Argao echoed Davide’s statement saying “He (Davide) doesn’t choose. All he requires is that barangay captains make sure that they have complete documents when they request for project.”
Caminero said Davide doesn’t take sides, but is strict about following the rules provided by the Commission on Audit and the procurement law.
“He doesn’t like taking shortcuts,” said Caminero. According to the vice mayor, out of the 45 barangays in Argao, those who don’t support LP “can be counted by fingers on one hand.” Caminero is running against Eddie Lanticse of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) and lawyer RJ Miranda of the Garcia-led One Cebu.
Meanwhile, Winston said they are formalizing the alliance with PDP-Laban, the political party of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. He said a formal announcement will come ‘in due time’.