For her 53rd birthday: Gwen increase CPDRC meal allowance vows Talisay aid

CEBU – Prior to a dinner celebration at the Marco Polo Plaza last night, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia spent her 53rd birthday yesterday delivering good news to the inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center and gracing the launch of the “Baroto Regatta” in Talisay City.

In CPDRC where she was greeted with new performances by the famous dancing inmates, Garcia announced that the food allowance of inmates at the provincial jail will be increased to P50 per day.

The P20 additional budget to the original P30 meal allowance will reportedly come from the supplemental budget that Garcia will ask the Provincial Board to approve.

Capitol Consultant on Security Byron Garcia said that the P30 meal allowance has been the budget since 2004 and the governor reportedly saw that it is no longer enough, considering the rising prices of goods.

Following a Mass there, Garcia treated the inmates with 25 orders of roasted pig and distributed bundles of joy which, contained toiletries, among others. 

Before going to CPDRC, the governor first attended the launch of the “Baroto Regatta,” a boat racing contest in Talisay City, which Garcia promised to support every year.

Customs Collector David Odilao, chairman of the Talisay’s Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council, said that because of its successful launch yesterday, the “Baroto Regatta” will be made as a summer festival activity of Talisay.

In the race, participants are only allowed to use paddles. Yesterday, the participants paddled from the Tourist Seaside Hotel to the Pungaton Reef then back to the Lagundi Reef.

Odilao’s son, Talisay City Councilor Bernard Odilao, said the contest aims to convince local fisherfolk to preserve the environment, especially the sea from which they earn a living.

Garcia, an adopted daughter of Talisay, pledged support for the project, saying she cannot turn her back on Talisay because the city had supported her when she first ran for governor in 2004.

Yesterday’s winners- brothers Lyndon and Ricardo Sumandig (first place), Pontaciano Silab and Bernie Honteveros (second place), and Martin Espra and Gilberto Obrero (third place) brought home P20,000; P15,000; and P10,000 cash respectively.

The other placers also received cash prices and bags of groceries. — Brenda D. Batuto and Jessica Ann R. Pareja/JMO (THE FREEMAN)