''Sugbuak'' (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''Sugbu'' and ''buak'') refers to the failed proposal to divide the island province of

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

into four separate provinces in 2007. The issue, which had emerged before the 2007 general election, was a polarizing issue in provincial politics, pitting the anti-partition camp of Cebu Governor

Gwendolyn Garcia Gwendolyn Fiel Garcia-Codilla (born October 12, 1955) is a Filipino politician who has served as the 24th governor of Cebu since 2019. She previously held the position from 2004 to 2013 and served as the representative for Cebu's third distr ...

, Cebu City Mayor

Tomas Osmeña Tomas "Tommy" de la Rama Osmeña (; born July 26, 1948) is a Filipino politician who was recently elected as the Vice Mayor of Cebu City in 2025 elections. He previously served as Mayor from 1987 to 1995, 2001 to 2010, and 2016 to 2019. He als ...

and Cebu City Representative

Antonio Cuenco Antonio "Tony" Veloso Cuenco (March 26, 1936 – June 27, 2020) was a Filipino politician who served as a council member for the 2nd District of the Cebu City Council. He also served as the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary As ...

, against that of ''Sugbuak'' proponents Representatives Antonio Yapha Jr., Clavel Asas-Martinez, and Simeon Kintanar—all of whom were last-term congressmen at the time.

Etymology

The term ''Sugbuak'' is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Cebuano words ''Sugbo'' (the

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

for Cebu) and ''buak'' ('split' or 'break') and roughly translates to "the splitting of Cebu" or "Broken Cebu". The more pro-partition term ''Sugbuhi'' is conversely a portmanteau of ''Sugbo'' and ''buhi'' ('life-giving'), roughly translating into "giving life to Cebu".

History

The idea of a divided Cebu can be traced to 1967, when a proposal to split the island's lone congressional district into a new province failed. Gubernatorial candidates in that year's general election who supported the partition were defeated due to strong opposition from the Cebu electorate. The actual ''Sugbuak'' began in February 2005, when Representatives Yapha, Asas-Martínez, and Kintanar filed three bills proposing that the fourth, second and third

legislative districts of Cebu The legislative districts of Cebu are the representations of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cebu in the List of legislatures of the Philippines, various national legislatures of the Philippines. At present, the province is repres ...

(which they held, respectively) be converted into three new provinces named Cebu del Norte, Cebu del Sur and Cebu Occidental. The remaining three districts of Cebu, in addition to the two legislative districts of Cebu City, would constitute a fourth province. The three provinces, according to their respective bills, would have their capitals in Bogo,

Argao Argao, officially the Municipality of Argao (; ), is a municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 78,187 people. Geography The municipality of Argao is located in the southeast of the ...

and

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

. According to the congressmen, the motive for the ''Sugbuak'' is to bring the government "closer to the people" and to allow the new provinces to get an increased share in the

Internal Revenue Allotment The Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) is a local government unit’s (LGU) share of revenues from the Philippine national government. Provinces, independent cities, component cities, municipalities, and barangays each get a separate allotment. ...

, as well as to hasten the development of the districts, which were said to have been "neglected" by the provincial government.

Opposition

The filing of the bills triggered a massive campaign to keep Cebu united. The campaign led by Governor García claimed that the motive for the ''Sugbuak'' was more political than economic. An article published by ''

The Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...

'' claimed that the provinces would have become the "virtual

fiefdom A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

s" of Asas-Martínez, Kintanar and Yapha after the partition, an idea reinforced by the fact that all three congressmen were in their last terms as representatives of their respective districts. The provincial council of Cebu passed a resolution supporting the ''Sugbuak'' with a vote of 8–7; García, however, vetoed the resolution. García's call for a united Cebu met with strong support from local governments, business interests, civil society groups, and even the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In August 2005, the

Archdiocese of Cebu The Archdiocese of Cebu (more formally the Archdiocese of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Cebu; ; ; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and one of the ecclesiastical provinces of the Catholic Church in the ...

conducted a survey in its 138 parishes to gauge the level of support for the ''Sugbuak''. 71 parishes, including those of proposed capitals

, Bogo, and Toledo City, confirmed the belief of Cardinal

Ricardo Vidal Ricardo Tito Jamin Vidal (February 6, 1931 – October 18, 2017) was a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church. Made a cardinal in 1985, he was Archbishop of Cebu from 1982 to 2010. Early life and education Vidal was born on February 6, 19 ...

, Archbishop of Cebu, that a majority of Cebuanos opposed the ''Sugbuak''.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Official anti-''Sugbuak'' website by the Cebu provincial government
as preserved by the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...