Kintanar justifies proposed creation of Cebu del Sur

CEBU — In an 11-page executive summary, second district Rep. Simeon Kintanar insisted that converting his district into the separate province of Cebu del Sur will benefit its constituents.

Kintanar and fellow Cebu Reps. Clavel Asas-Martinez and Antonio Yapha, in separate bills filed in the House of Representatives, are proposing to convert their respective districts into separate provinces.

All three promised to present their proposals to Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who has opposed the move to divide the province. Vidal, however, has yet to receive the executive summaries.

Kintanar argued that the creation of Cebu del Sur will make it easier for the provincial government to respond to the needs of the people since it will serve only 371,764 residents from among 15 towns, instead of the entire provincial population.

Kintanar expects Cebu del Sur to earn an income closer to the one projected by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia during the recent Sugbo Supak sa Buak-buak Summit.

He likened the present distribution of development to the "high wattage halogen light" where the area close to the Capitol gets better illumination.

"In a similar manner, the outer fringes of Cebu cannot expect as much opportunities as what the urban areas are now experiencing," he said.

With a projected Internal Revenue Allotment of over P229 million and income from real property taxes of more than P2 million, Kintanar said Cebu del Sur will have an income of about P232,314,800, which is sufficient to operate a "lean and mean" provincial government.

In a proposed budgetary summary, he said Cebu del Sur will spend P21,882,991 for personnel services.

Kintanar’s executive summary, which he furnished The Freeman, shows that Cebu del Sur will have 15 offices, excluding cooperative and tourism offices.

The governor’s office and the provincial planning and development and agriculture offices will each have three to six employees. Overall, the Cebu del Sur government will have 123 employees, according to the document.

Cebu del Sur’s first capital outlay, according to the executive summary, will be the construction of a P30-million Capitol building. Next will be the conversion of the Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital into a provincial hospital.

Kintanar said Argao, proposed to be the capital of Cebu del Sur because national government agencies have existing facilities there, will receive a bigger IRA of P14,686,155.40.

The other towns and their projected IRAs: Dalaguete, P13.4 million; Alcoy, P5.06 million; Boljoon, P4.3 million; Oslob, P7.8 million; Santander, P4.5 million; Samboan, P5.2 million; Ginatilan, P5.3 million; Malabuyoc, P5.7 million; Alegria, P6.7 million; Badian, P8.5 million; Moalboal, P7.8 million; Alcantara, P4.2 million; Ronda, P5.5 million and Dumanjug, P9.4 million.

Garcia, however, said Kintanar’s figures were unbelievable.

"The proponents, like Kintanar, are legislators and it is a world (far) different from an executive job. They don’t know how it is to run a province," she said.

Garcia visited Vidal the other day to thank him for his support for the movement against the House bills of Kintanar, Yapha and Martinez, who are all on their third and last terms in office. — Freeman News Service