Vengeance?

Gwen Garcia isn’t God! How could she lead the Province of Cebu when her priority is vengeance?

The newly elected Governor Gwen Garcia of the Province of Cebu is busy discontinuing the projects of the former Governor and now the Vice Governor Hilario P. Davide, III. She discontinued the walkway that is intended to shelter the employees in going out of the capitol office and take a public utility jeepney in going home during the rainy season. She reasoned that it will disrupt the view of the Capitol which the National Historic Commission of the Philippines never ordered. Well, her stopping of the construction of the 20-story building may have some legal basis. But she has to understand that if she is an advocate of tourism, the Capitol Building has to be preserved and perhaps be converted to a venue for arts and cultural exhibits and performances and transfer most of the offices to a new building. That need for more office spaces is something that she has to look into. Logic will tell her that as the population grows, she has to anticipate that the number of public servants will also grow. She has two doctorate degrees which should have made her look into this. Anyway, her doctorate degrees are honoris causas, something bestowed even without taking the regular classes and passing through the needles of comprehensive exams and dissertation writing.

How could she lead the Province of Cebu if she cannot follow the rule of law?

She has reassigned the Department Head of the Cebu Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) Ms. Marivc R. Garces, to the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office. Mrs. Garces was instructed to report to Mr. Baltazar Tribunalo, the Department Head of the PDRRMO. This is a violation of the CSC rules on reassignment. Both are enjoying a Salary Grade 26 because of their position as department heads. A department head cannot report to another department head. Weirdly, Governor Gwen Garcia designated a certain Wilson Ramos, a rank-and-file employee of PDRRMO as the OIC of the PSWDO. Again this is a violation of the CSC rules. Mr. Ramos cannot supervise those who are of higher positions within the PSWDO. It is a public knowledge that there are still higher positions in the said office like the Provincial Assistant Department Head of PSWDO, Ms. Evelyn T. Deguit. Governor Garcia has to know also that Marivic R. Garces won her case at CSC when was reassigned by former Governor Davide to Danao. In the decision of CSC, the following points were pointed out:

1.) If you reassign a department head, it should be something of equal responsibility of the position.

2.) If the reassigned personnel does not agree, a letter should be communicated to CSC which will eventually put the reassignment in abeyance.

Governor Gwen Garcia also reassigned Ms. Alma Sibonga, the Department Head of the Provincial Assessor's Office, Mr. Jone Siegfred Sepe, the Department Head of the Provincial General Services Offices, and Dr. Roldan Saragena, the Provincial Agriculturist. I would like to challenge her to show to the intelligent Cebuanos, the table of comparison of the qualifications and the achievements of those she has reassigned and those that she has designated to take over their places.

Tell me, who your people are, and I won’t tell you who you are, but I will tell you that they are like you.

Please bear in mind, Governor Garcia, that you do not own Cebu. No one owns Cebu except God. Therefore, you have to respect the law because you are a public servant and certainly not God.

A Capitol employee

and a Citizen of Cebu