CEBU CITY— Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on Friday decided to withdraw the Executive Order (EO) that she issued allowing motorcycle backriding in Cebu.
Garcia’s decision to withdraw EO No. 19 was in response to President Duterte’s pronouncement yesterday that quashed Cebu’s plans to allow motorcycle backriding.
“You know, much as I would like to accommodate Governor Garcia and the board members, here’s what I can say: If I begin to give an exemption to one… I will open myself to charges of anti-graft law, giving another an undue advantage,” Duterte said in an address early morning Friday.
The Cebu Provincial Board was supposed to hold a special session Friday to adopt Garcia’s EO that would have paved the way for the allowing of motorcycle backriding in the province.
After the President’s nation address, Garcia instructed the board to defer the special session.
“Una sa tanan, tungod kay siya may akong Presidente mopatuo ko niya… I will withdraw my EO in deference sa sulti sa Presidente (First of all, because he is my President, I will follow him. I will withdraw my EO in deference to what the President said,” Garcia said in an interview with Cebu City-based radio station dyLA.
Last Thursday, Department of Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Epimaco Densing asked Garcia not to pursue with her plans to allow motorcycle backriding lest she will be given a show-case order and may face criminal and administrative charges. (Calvin Cordova)
