The start of a historic Holy Week

For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky” we bring you Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to talk about what she has been doing in the past few weeks since Cebu has been placed on community quarantine. I can just imagine the trouble the governor has gone through for Cebu just in these past few weeks. Of course, people who cannot understand what has to be done to make sure that Cebuanos do not face the worst-case scenario in this global pandemic called COVID-19.

But somehow the governor’s aggressiveness has resulted in Cebu not getting any new COVID-19 infected people. We experienced only four deaths in Cebu City with none from Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City and none from of Cebu Province. No matter what some people say against the governor, we are being saved from this global virus. So watch Governor Gwen tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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Yesterday at 8 a.m., we watched the live streaming at the Metropolitan Cathedral to hear the Mass celebrated by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma to consecrate Cebu to Our Lady of Guadalupe in a consecration read by Gov. Garcia before the statue of our Lady of Guadalupe. And the prayer that Gov. Gwen recited for this consecration was so emotional that the governor was near tears. What a beautiful prayer. Hopefully, it will protect Cebu from this global virus.

Also I would like to point out that the nightly vehicular procession of our beloved Señor Santo Niño in the streets of Cebu City has given us a great blessing, it even rained Sunday evening. They have been doing this for the last seven nights and I would like to believe that it has resulted in a great blessing in the sense that the last COVID-19 report for Central Visayas we had only four deaths in Cebu City and two in Negros Oriental for a total of six.

For confirmed cases, Cebu City still leads with 22, while there are two cases each in Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City, four in Negros Oriental, and three in Cebu Province. There is only one case in Bohol and none in Siquijor. If you folks don’t think it is a blessing then you aren’t a spiritual person. Mind you, we are now in a very historic Holy Week and it’s time to reflect on why our Lord Jesus Christ suffered his passion and death on the cross.

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If there was any great news that we heard from President Rodrigo Duterte last Friday, it was that he fired Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commissioner Manuelito Luna on Friday for urging the National Bureau of Investigation to probe Vice President Leni Robredo’s efforts to help in the government relief efforts against COVID-19. To be totally honest with you folks, I too wasn’t really impressed by Luna. I mean at this point we need all the help that we can get and I never thought the Robredo was competing with the work or the duties of the president.

But never mind what I think. The most important person who should be affected by this is no less than Pres. Duterte who apparently sees nothing wrong with Robredo’s efforts, stressing that there is a need to keep politics away from the efforts to contain COVID-19 in the country. President Duterte said, “I don’t have anything against Leni, I know she is just working. There are times when I criticize but at this time, the vice president has no fault. She’s helping, why call for an investigation?”

With this news, the Office of the Vice President expressed gratitude to President Duterte for his statement supporting their efforts to help those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. She said, “We are thankful for the statement of the president that it is not an offense to help fellow Filipinos in times of crisis.” PACC’s Dante Jimenez and Greco Belgica have both distanced from Luna’s move, saying the latter acted on his own. When I read that these two did not have the same mentality as Luna, then I already had an inkling that this PACC guy was on the way out.