CEBU Governor Gwen Garcia let off some emotional steam Monday, August 9 when in a virtual meeting with mayors and other officials admitted her “imperfections” but she is all that her constituents elected and “must put up” with her.
Cebu Province topped all other local government units in Central Visayas on number of active Covid-19 cases per Department of Health data as of Friday, August 6. The province, with its towns and component cities, recorded 1,874 new cases and 85 deaths in the first six days of August.
HER REGRETS. A video clip of the monologue segment, unofficially circulated Wednesday, August 11, showed the governor harping on two “ big regrets” in her life:
[1] Not being the “perfect being you want me to be, with 100 percent batting average,” or endowed with superpowers like Superwoman or Wonder Woman, who “with a flick of the fingers could change everything.”
She says she’s “just an ordinary human being with all my faults and weaknesses.”
[2] Not having served as governor for six years and having had “only six months” before the pandemic struck.
It wasn’t clear how she counted the six-month period after her comeback but she didn’t include her nine-year stint, from 2004 to 2013 as the province’s first woman governor. Term-limited as governor, Gwen Garcia won and served as congresswoman in Cebu’s third district, from 2013 to 2019, and, after the six-year interruption (during which Vice Governor Junjun Davide served as governor), returned to the Capitol as chief executive on June 30, 2019.
She could’ve done a lot during those six years, Guv Gwen says, “dako unta ang mahimo kon duna pay gihimo.” She’s referring to the district hospitals and medical facilities run by Capitol, which were criticized by a number of people for alleged inadequacies during the pandemic.
SHE ‘DID HER BEST,” the governor says. Repeatedly, she says her constituents have to be content with her: “I’m all you’ve got,” “You have to make do with me,” “You must put up with me.” She’s the one people elected but they can “find a Superman or Superwoman” in the next election, she says.
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A no-Superman in Lapu-Lapu
ANOTHER official, though unelected, gave a similar allusion to Superman in the response of his local government to the Covid-19 crisis.
Last August 3, Nagiel Banacia, officer-in-charge of Lapu-Lapu City’s DRRMO or Disaster Risk Reduction & Management Office, posted on Facebook this short apology-explanation for failing to contain the new surge of cases in that city, “I’m so sorry. We are not Superman.”
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We’re ‘already invaded’
IN CEBU City, Extended Acting Mayor Mike Rama conceded: “Covid already invaded us, and that is clear.” That’s not quite clear as he doesn’t tell us the extent of the invasion.
In his statement August 11, Wednesday, on the city’s second week under MECQ, EAM Rama repeats his mantra on health protocols, enforcing “martial law” in each household, his “hybrid” approach to the emergency, opening of more isolation spaces hospital beds, and vaccination sites.
ZIP ON MASS GRAVES. Mike has steered off talk of mass burials, sensing that City Hall’s talk of mass graves Tuesday, August 10 struck fear in the hearts of many residents. Councilor Dave Tumulak says it’s only a “last option.”
Instead, they’re asking for Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma’s permission for a 140-sq.m. lot in each of the archdiocese’s cemeteries in the city, on which to build four-tier row of “nechos” for additional burial space. On the plan for a cemetery, they’re planning a cemetery cum heritage park in a mountain barangay.
MIKE’S TERMS. Acting Mayor Rama continues to shock-and-awe people with his use of words and phrases. Cebuanos may be used to it but most likely not those who’re non-Cebu City residents, such as the CNN Philippines “New Day” host Rhea Santos who heard these from the acting mayor in an interview Wednesday:
[] “Give us vaccines or give us death.”
[] “Hybrid approach on Covid”
[] “Household martial law.”
[] ”Mega stay-in facility.”
Santos didn’t have time to ask him to explain what he was talking about.
On print, Mike Rama’s “we’re invaded” message led off with a quote on Armaggeddon: “Armaggedon was yesterday. Today we have a serious problem.”
That line from the 2005 Larsson book “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” may instill more fear – it invokes the image of the battle between good and evil before Judgment Day — than the plainer “Houston, we have a problem,” which Guv Gwen once quoted in a crisis management talk.
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