CEBU – Before the end of this year, sitios Banawa and Englis may soon be independent from barangay Guadalupe.
Guadalupe, the biggest and most-populated barangay in Cebu City may soon be divided through a bill to be submitted by Cebu City south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco before Congress this week.
Cuenco said in a press conference yesterday he is confident it will be approved before the end of 2008.
Cuenco said he is now convinced that Banawa and Englis have been neglected by the local government of Guadalupe so now he is pushing for its independence to give them the chance to manage their own affairs.
The United Banawa-Englis Association Incorporated officer-in-charge Jaime Sala praised the support from Cuenco saying they have long been pushing for separation from Guadalupe since 1989.
A city ordinance dividing Guadalupe into Guadalupe proper and Banawa-Englis was passed on March 1996 and was approved on December that same year. The first plebiscite was scheduled for March 3, 1997 but was postponed.
Guadalupe claimed that there was no proper consultation from the residents so they passed a resolution suspending the plebiscite.
On April 28, 1998, the second plebiscite was set but it was hindered by barangay Labangon for the reason that a clear boundary has not been defined.
The third plebiscite was supposed to be held on April 30, 2002 but Guadalupe barangay captain Eugenio Faelnar opposed it and demanded the petitioner conduct a proper survey first before they can proceed with the plebiscite.
When UBEAI bid for the survey service, it needed P450,000 which the movement could not shoulder. Sala said they even asked the city to provide them the survey but the city refused saying it has to prioritize the mountain barangays.
Cuenco, yesterday vowed to Banawa and Englis residents that he is willing to shoulder the P450,000 budget needed for the survey just to speed up the process of separation.
Sala said they have been pushing for the separation saying the local government of Guadalupe has been treating them as second-class residents and also alleged that Banawa and Englis are not receiving appropriate allocations for projects from the LGU.
Not a single waiting shed can be seen in Banawa while almost all streets in Guadalupe proper have the structure, Sala claimed.
He also added that they are lucky if garbage will be collected once a week as it is usually collected just once every two weeks.
Sala said the security in their place is also poor because only three to four tanods rove around their place and almost every month there is a reported case of armed robbery and snatching. Gambling is also allegedly rampant in the place.
Faelnar said that he does not oppose the separation as long as the public decides for it and he is okay with whatever Cuenco does concerning the split of Guadalupe into two barangays.
Faelnar said he is confident that it will not affect the economy of Guadalupe at all because Banawa and Englis are just small portions of the barangay proper.
In all, Guadalupe has 294 square hectares and has a population of about 69,000. Banawa and Englis comprise 137 square hectares and have about 36,000 residents.
When asked for comment, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is in favor in dividing Guadalupe into two barangays, although not immediately.
Osmeña added that it will depend upon the details of the proposed bill. — Jessica Ann Pareja with Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP (THE FREEMAN)