Gwen shows mediamen the air-con works at CICC

Governor Gwen Garcia, in one of her regular visits to the site of the Cebu International Convention Center, yesterday took several local reporters to a tour of the ongoing works of the air-conditioning system of the building, which will be the venue for the Asean Summit.

The governor chose to take with her the mediamen supposedly to dispute a recent statement of The Freeman columnist Leo Lastimosa that the Capitol has to award yet the contract for the supply and installation of air-conditioners at the CICC.

Gwen had terminated the contract of the previous air-con installer because of slow work in two months, and there were reports that there was nobody yet chosen to assume the works since.

The governor said she did not regret dropping the previous contractor during the most critical stage of the CICC completion. She showed the new contractor, Alenaire Cebu Inc., already nears the final phase of the work in just nine days since the firm took over the work last November 17.

Alenaire already completed the works of the ducts and this would allow now the installation of the ceilings. "We hope to finish on the fourth of December or maybe on the second pa gani so there's nothing to worry about," Alenaire manager Luis Molo III told reporters.

The facility is scheduled for turn over to Capitol on November 30, and the air-con system at the international media center was tested yesterday before the mediamen.

Molo said they would complete the installation of 20 air conditioners in various capacities, ranging from 5-ton to 20-ton.

When the governor took a peek at the plenary hall, she saw workers install more ceiling panels, and carpets-works that would go to its final phase as soon as the air-con ducts are done.

The media center, on the other hand, was already divided into 72 rooms or partitions, 62 of which are already assigned to clients, among them Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters. In the middle is the master control area complete with 36 television sets.

Lawyer Pablo John Garcia, Capitol consultant and younger brother of the governor, meanwhile challenged Lastimosa to a debate about issues on CICC in front of media practitioners and students.

Lastimosa, for his part, declined the challenge saying Pablo John is not an authority to speak in behalf of the provincial government. The media does not work to engage in debates also, the columnist said.

This prompted Gwen to take the cudgels herself, as she dared Lastimosa to have a debate with her instead, but then that would only be after the summit.



Gwen said she will also lodge a complaint at the ABS-CBN management in Manila against Lastimosa, as news anchor of TV Patrol-Visayas, for his allegedly baseless and irresponsible "sideline comments" of the CICC. - Cristina C. Birondo/RAE