Letter to the Editor – Plebiscite is the proper time and venue

There's so much fuss among some of our Cebuano politicians about the refusal of Representative Emilio Macias, House Committee Chair on Local Government, to conduct the public hearing in Cebu regarding the proposed bills seeking to create three new provinces of Cebu. I wonder if Rep. Macias can be compelled to conduct said hearing here. There is certainly no provision in any law that requires him to hold the same in the place where the proposal has bearing with. I am inclined to believe that it is the prerogative and discretion of the committee whether or not to conduct such hearing in Cebu.

So why impute bias on Rep. Macias? Why jump into conclusion that he is not listening to the Cebuanos' voice? In fairness to him, the job of his committee is to determine if the proposed bills have substantially complied with all the requirements set forth in the Local Government Code. And that a committee hearing on the matter has already been conducted in Congress, although it fell short of a full-blown hearing. Rep. Macias was correct in saying that Manila is a neutral venue for the hearing, based on his assessment that the matter is a highly sensitive issue to Cebuanos. Just recall the scenario during that hearing in Congress. The result? How much more scenes of the same tense and proportion could have happened had the hearing been conducted in Cebu?

At any rate, I am skeptical that a hearing in Cebu will change the course the bills are taking now. The bills are duly filed and they have complied with the legal requirements. I humbly suggest we give the bills their due course until they be passed into laws. Once approved into laws and submitted to the Cebuanos for a plebiscite, that's the proper time and venue to say "Yes" or "No".

Let the sovereign people register their sentiments and not just a few bunch of elected officials who think as if they alone know what is best for this province and its future.

Basiliso M. Sungcad Jr.
Ronda, Cebu