“Richest province” tag a challenge to Garcia

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has considered the province’s distinction as the richest province in the country as a challenge for her administration to deliver services to the whole island.

Based on the Annual Audit Report that the Commission on Audit (COA) has released, the Cebu Province has P35.6 billion total worth of assets in 2018, making it the top one province in the country.

Garcia said the distinction is meaningless if the people cannot feel the impact of the services of the government.

“These assets must be translated to service for the people. Unsa may gamit kung moingon ta nga dato kaayo ta pero pwerteng gubaa ang atong mga dalan, maglisod ang mga tawo, kada adlaw nag-antos moagi ang libaong. Walay tubig nga moabot sa ilang mga balay,” Garcia said.

Garcia refused to take credit on the said distinction as she narrated on why the province gained such distinction.

She said the Province of Cebu could be one of the poorest provinces in the country if the Capitol were not able to recover parcels of the 380 hectares owned by the provincial government that were donated to Cebu City allegedly by then vice governor Prescillano  Almendras.

“At that time, my father (former Governor Pablo Garcia) was a private practicing lawyer and he filed a case in court to stop the city from selling those lots,” Garcia said and added that then governor Rene Espina joined her father to recover those lots.

Now the present value of the provincial real properties are expected to rise as Capitol move to reassess the value of these properties matching the current market values.

“We intend to have an updated appraisal of these properties which now includes the almost P4 billion Cyberzone Towers 1 and 2 in our property in IT Park,” Garcia said.  GAN (FREEMAN)