Cebu gets first woman gov

CEBU — Woman power ruled Cebu the other day.

Just hours after President Arroyo broke tradition by taking her oath of office in Cebu instead of Manila, Gwendolyn Garcia was proclaimed as the first woman elected governor of the province, making the day doubly historic and significant for Cebu and for women.

The provincial board of canvassers proclaimed Garcia after winding up the count from 13 contested municipalities and cities.

When the final tally emerged, Garcia had 405,852 votes, or a difference of 7,529 votes over the 398,323 posted by her closest rival, former Rep. Celestino Martinez Jr.

Besides Martinez, husband of Rep. Clavel Martinez and a former agriculture undersecretary, outgoing Vice Gov. John-John Osmeña, son of defeated Sen. John Osmeña, also challenged Garcia in the gubernatorial race.

Garcia immediately took her oath before Vice President Noli de Castro Wednesday night at the Capitol’s social hall where the canvass was held.

De Castro earlier had taken his oath of office at around noon, just minutes ahead of Mrs. Arroyo.

The board of canvassers, headed by chairman Edwin Cadungog, also proclaimed the other winning provincial candidates whose proclamations were delayed when the canvassing for governor got snagged by pre-proclamation protests.

The other officials proclaimed were Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez and provincial board members Antonio Almirante, Carmiano Kintanar, Estrella Yapha, Victoria Corominas, Joven Mondigo, Luigi Quisumbing and Victor Maambong.

But the proclamations nearly did not push through when about halfway through the canvassing of the contested certificates of canvass from the towns of Argao, Boljoon, Oslob, Moalboal, Dumanjug, Tuburan, Tabogon, Bogo, Medellin and San Francisco and the cities of Toledo, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, no less than Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos tried to intervene.

Abalos Call

Abalos, calling from Manila, ordered Cadungog, the provincial election supervisor, to immediately suspend the canvass to give way to a motion for reconsideration that Martinez had filed against an earlier resolution of the Comelec rejecting all pre-proclamation protests in Cebu.

Strangely, Abalos made the call not directly to Cadungog but through the mobile phone of one of the lawyers of Martinez, Pepita Jane Petralba.

As soon as Petralba handed her phone to Cadungog, Abalos immediately ordered the Cebu election official to stop the proceedings.

But Cadungog defied the verbal order, citing the Comelec en banc’s omnibus resolution issued only last June 29 dismissing all pre-proclamation protests after noon of June 30.

Cadungog said it was very clear in the resolution that the cases in question were not among those that the Comelec would continue to hear and that Section 16 of Republic Act 7166 or the Omnibus Election Code clearly states that all pre-proclamation cases are deemed terminated after noon of June 30.

Cadungog said the omnibus resolution in fact ordered the board of canvassers to reconvene and continue the suspended canvass and then proclaim the winners.

Because of his defiance of Abalos’ verbal order, the Comelec chairman allegedly threatened Cadungog, saying, "Go on at your own risk."

After defying Abalos and proceeding with the canvass, Cadungog began to receive a barrage of threatening text messages on his cellphone, some of them purportedly from communist rebels who warned he may not live to see Friday.

Text Threats

Some of the messages may have been inspired by pronouncements allegedly made on radio by former Compostela mayor Gilbert Wagas, who lost in his bid for the provincial board under Martinez’s ticket.

Wagas allegedly announced the cellphone number of Cadungog on Bantay Radyo and then exhorted the people to call the election official and ask him to heed Abalos’ order to suspend the canvass.

Because of the threats, Cadungog immediately requested police assistance.

He said he intends to sue Wagas for allegedly disclosing his cellphone number publicly on radio.

Some supporters of Martinez also began to gather in front of the Capitol as the canvass proceeded but they eventually dispersed when a larger group of Garcia supporters arrived.

Garcia, in her first interview as the new governor of Cebu, thanked those who supported her in what she called a tough fight.

"As a sign of gratitude, I will devote every moment of the next three years of my life totally and entirely to the province of Cebu," she said.

The 47-year-old mother of three is the eldest daughter of outgoing Gov. Pablo Garcia, whose third and last term officially ended at noon Wednesday.

Incidentally, Garcia is from Dumanjug, the very same town from where the first Filipino governor of Cebu, Dionesio Jakosalem, hailed.

Asked what his role would be in the administration of his daughter, the elder Garcia said he would have no other role than that of a father.

"A daughter, if she has a problem, will always consult her father," he said in Cebuano.

During the latter part of his term, the elder Garcia took in his daughter as a consultant in the Capitol. — Freeman News Service, Marichu Villanueva