Garcia and Davide: Partnership of the opposites  

I wrote a year ago that Governor Gwen is from Mars and Vice Governor Junjun is from Venus. Gwen is fire and volcano. Junjun is water and lake. Gwen is the doer and implementer. Junjun is the thinker and evaluator. This fits their respective jobs. The governor is the chief executive of the province. Junjun is the chief of the policy-making and provincial legislative body.

The governor has the manifest speed, dynamism, passion, enthusiasm, and aggressiveness. The vice governor has the silent wisdom, equanimity, calm, restraint, and subdued coolness. The governor is the eagle that soars ready to attack and to dominate the space. The vice governor is the dove that carries the symbol of peace. The governor is the ferocious lion that symbolizes power, strength, and domination. The vice governor is like lamb and zebra, powerful too in his silence and sense of peace and contentment, gracious and graceful, never offensive and always courteous and respectful.

During the time of pandemic, the governor was on top of the situation, leading and controlling the movements of the frontliners, pushing the mayors to instill discipline in the implementation of health protocols, monitoring the rates of infections and the speed of vaccinations. She was a true and actual leader, insisting that all her people are awake and moving, all hands on deck. She made sure that decisions are made fast and with a sense of urgency, that medical services are available in all towns and islands, and no Cebuano should ever be denied immediate medical care and assistance. Above all, she bravely stood up to the IATF and DOH ivory tower bigwigs who wanted to impose their will. They could not do that to Gwen Garcia.

At the back and always behind the shadow of the governor is the vice governor who never obstructed the implementation of the governor's plans and programs. Vice governor Junjun always supported the governor's plans and programs. He led the Provincial Board in providing legislative support to the governor's strategic thrusts and tactical moves. Albeit the two do not belong to the same political party, in fact they were rivals all the time, and yet, the vice governor never allowed political partisanship to constitute an obstacle to public service. I have never heard the vice governor criticizing the governor. Junjun is a perfect gentleman and a very upright and sincere person. He acquired all the good characters of his parents.

The governor at times can go ballistic and can be very confrontational and even abrasive. But that is only her style. Deep in her is a very nurturing, caring and loving friend. She is in fact the best as a friend, but she can be the worst as an enemy. She is also very grateful. She always sends me SMS expressing her appreciation for some of my good words for her. But she never berated me for the criticism I wrote about her, especially for her support of her presidential candidate. She respects individual choice. But what she hates is betrayal, treachery, and backstabbing. I call her dragon lady and iron butterfly. She just grins and takes my words with grains of salt.

Junjun Davide is that kind of person you can never dare to hate. He is so humble, laid back, sincere, and always honors his words. He never raises his voice and always listens to others. Sir Dodong Jun and Ma'am Gigi raised him well. The nature of his personality, I told him many times, is very good for Congress, and later the Senate. Why not? If Robin, Jinggoy, Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, Bato and Bong Go can be a senator, why not an Argaoanon, Carolinian lawyer, and son of a former chief justice?