CEBU DAILY NEWS | TUESDAY, 13 APRIL 2010

Alvin’s Cebu Cityan IT, culturehub friendly tothe masses

June 29, 1946

Married to Trinidad “Ninette” Neri Garcia

Children - Atty. Jess Anthony, Dr. JeraldMark, Atty. Raymond Alvin

Law GraduateAteneo de Manila University

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science(with honors)Ateneo de Manila University

A series of irregularities in City Hall trans-action during his term and a first-eversuspension by the Visayas Ombudsmanr

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He was busy withhis law practiceand golf when he

was handpicked by TomasOsmeña to be his runningmate in 1988.

Alvin Garcia went on toserve as Cebu City vicemayor until 1995. WhenOsmeña took a break frompolitics to focus on hisfamily, Garcia was hischoice as standard bearerof Bando Osmeña - Pun-dok Kauswagan (BO-PK).

Garcia was elected may-or for two terms in the1995 and 1998 elections.On his second term, hisrelations with his mentorturned sour. Osmeña ac-cused Garcia of misman-aging the city while Garciaaccused his former ally oftrying to to regain controlof City Hall.

A slew of allegationsfollowed: the irregularpurchase of a 29-hectarelot in barangay Gubaworth P11.5 million, anidle condominium, thedemolition of the RamosPubl ic Market and anaborted high investmentbank debenture scheme.

In 1999, Garcia andeight other officials wereplaced under preventivesuspension for six monthsb y t h e O m b u d s m a n -Vi s aya s .

At question was an as-phalt contract with F.E.

Zuellig for the city's batch-ing plant.

He served 24 days of thesuspension before theSupreme Court ruled thatsix months was too long.

Garcia lost to Osmeñain 2001 and 2004. Heshunned politics, sayinghe would run again only ifelections are full auotmat-e d s o h e wo u l d n ' t b echeated again.

With the May 10 polls ahistoric first with poll au-tomation, Garcia tries hisluck again in the mayoralrace under the Nacional-ista Party-Kugi UswagSugbu banner.

Now is the chance forhim, if elected, to reviveprevious plans for the Wa-terfront Development Pro-ject to transform CebuCity’s downtown and wa-terfront areas into a world-class tourism destination.

Cebu City’s first Infor-mation Technology (IT)Summit in 2001 also tookoff during his watch, part ofthe goal to position city asthe “IT capital” of the coun-try. The South ReclamationProject was started and fin-ished during his tenure.

How do you size upyour opponent?

Who among your op-ponents do you consideryour strongest?

Mike Rama because he

ALVIN GARCIA, two-termCebu City mayor, wants tocontinue where he left off.

Bir thday

Fa m i l y

Educ ation

Co nt rove r s y

is supported by a strongparty which is the incum-b e n t a d m i n i s t r a t i o n .Georgia Osmena may be alittle bit weaker but wecan’t discount the possi-bility because she is an Os-meña and whatever yousay n a a g ih a p o n s i l ayclout. Sonny (John HenryOsmeña) has not reallybeen campaigning and heis not carrying any line-up. Maybe that is his setback but he can also be ac-commodated. Duha nasila nga Osmeña.

What are your cam-paign strategies?

We offer a better alter-native for the Cebuanosand remind them of thep ro g r a m s t h a t I h avemade before these were setaside by Mayor Osmeña.

Our campaign today isbasically handshaking dur-

ing the day and in theevening, three or four pu -long-pulong s in the southand another three or fourpulong-pulong s in thenorth. That has been sus-tained for over a monthnow. We have toured all thebarangays in the north andsouth but not all sitios.

How do you topple awell-entrenched politicalmachiner y?

There are times thatpeople are tired of thatwell-entrenched politicalmachinery because theycan’t deliver basic services.(But) it will be difficultbecause they have all theresources and we haveseen their dole outs nga gi-panghatag ang ila mg aprojects that were neverdone before suddenly ilag ibuhat. It shows there isreally fear on the part of

the incumbent that peoplewant change . We w i l lshow the people that thisadministration has notdone anything good forthe people.

How w il l you wor kwith those from outsideyour party who will beelected to serve with you?

I can work with ourcouncilors in the city. I seethat most of them are “yes”men. It's not difficult forme to work with anybodyespecially those who areknown to be subservient tothe incumbent.

What do you plan toaccomplish in your first100 days in office?

The most important isto straighten out the messc r e a t e d b y t h e S o u t hR e c l a m a t i o n P r o j e c t(SRP). I intend to create a

panel of experts to studythis problem and seek so-lutions. They will deter-mine whether we shouldsel l , or maybe save it .Since they are experts Iwill follow whatever theywill say but the recom-mendation is crucial.

What are the top threeproblems plaguing thecity? How do you wish tosolve these?

The number one prob-lem is the SRP.

The number two prob-lem is the city hospital. Itis mismanaged. The may-or has not lifted a finger tomanage the hospital. Itw a s t h re a t e n e d t o b eclosed. This should be ad-dressed. We should get anexpert in running a hospi-tal. It's really a matter of

Q & A Special Page 6This series on local candidates, starting with Cebu City mayoralty

bets, aims to help readers decide whom to vote for on May 10.Next mayoral candidate: Crisologo Saavedra

ALVIN’S 31