Suspended Cebu Gov. Garcia wants tension to end but won't step down

As she and her family spent New Year inside the provincial capitol, suspended Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia voiced hopes the tension in the province will end soon. Garcia admitted it was "not normal" for her and her family to spend New Year at her "office" in defiance of the suspension order, radio dzBB's Cebu affiliate Orchids Lapincao reported Wednesday. But while Garcia indicated she wants the tension to end, she also posted on her Twitter account that she was still not stepping down. "It matters not how strict the gate, or how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul," she said, quoting William Ernest Henley's Invictus.  "Keep the faith and believe. In the end, truth and justice will prevail," she added. The governor, who Malacañang ordered suspended for six months starting last December, has been holed up at the Cebu capitol and has refused to step down, claiming politics was behind her suspension, of which she now has a pending petition before the Court of Appeals. She defied the December 31, 2012, ultimatum issued by Chief Superintendent Marcelo Garbo, head of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7. However, acting governor Agnes Magpale said they let Garcia defy the ultimatum “in the spirit of the season.” On New Year's Day, Garcia and her family attended a Mass at the capitol, the dzBB Cebu affiliate's report said. — LBG, GMA News