Cebu\u00a0 is no longer anti-Marcos country because Cebuanos have changed their views about the Marcos family, said Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0 made\u00a0 this point as he explained last week\u2019s\u00a0 trip which he and 12 other Cebu mayors made with\u00a0 Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and three Provincial Board (PB) members to Ilocos Norte.<\/p>\n
The five-day trip combined sightseeing of tourism spots with the signing of a sisterhood agreement on July 2 between Cebu and Ilocos Norte, which is headed by Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.<\/p>\n
Nelson, younger brother of Governor Garcia, is president of the League of Municipalities in the Philippines (LMP) Cebu chapter.<\/p>\n
The sisterhood agreement coincided with the celebration of the 82nd birthday of\u00a0\u00a0 Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were treated all around Ilocos just like the Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo. We visited all the historical sites in Ilocos Norte. We learned things about Ilocos that we hadn’t hear about before,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
In return,\u00a0 Governor Garcia invited Governor Marcos and her mayors and Imelda to visit Cebu\u00a0 in August for the province’s founding anniversary.<\/p>\n
During the Marcos regime\u00a0 and after the 1972 declaration of Martial Law, Cebu was an\u00a0\u00a0 anti-Marcos opposition bailiwick which intensifed with the 1983\u00a0 assasination of former Sen. Benigno Aguino. .<\/p>\n
Cory Aquino was in Cebu to declare a boycott of Marcos crony companies\u00a0 when the 1986\u00a0 EDSA uprising broke out.\u00a0 She\u00a0 took\u00a0 shelter overnight in the Carmelite convent before flying back to Manila to lead the historic,\u00a0 non-violent change of government.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Mayor Garcia said it isn’t true that Cebu is still \u201canti-Marcos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe anti-Marcos stance is already in the history books. People have changed, people changed their views. People changed their attitudes,\u00a0 especially the new ones right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said Cebu and Ilocos will be a different story in terms of economic and political ties in the 21st century.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ll work for progress … industry, technology, culture … that’s a very good start. If there’s One Cebu, we will also have One Ilocos and probably later on, One Philippines,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Last April, Governor Marcos visited Cebu for the\u00a0 memorandum of understanding, saying she wants to share best practices in renewable energy development and tourism.<\/p>\n
In their visit to the windmills in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, Mayor Garcia said Cebu has the potential to replicate this power source.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned that it can be done also in Cebu so the use of\u00a0 coal-fired power plants will be minimized,\u201d he said.Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cebu is no longer anti-Marcos country because Cebuanos have changed their views about the Marcos family, said Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,1227],"tags":[1299,214],"byline":[],"source":[206068],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n