Hair samples are taken from Mayor Tomas Osmeña as he submits the samples for his drug test. Osmeña took his drug test at the St. Vincent General Hospital on Saturday afternoon. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
After both bitter political rivals showed up yesterday to take the drug test albeit separately, it was now Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s turn to issue his challenge to former mayor Michael Rama, adding another chapter to their pissing contest of sorts — this time the challenge is taking a lie detector test.
Osmeña accepted Rama’s dare on Friday to undergo a drug test, although he did not show up at Plaza Independencia, where Rama waited for the mayor for at least an hour.
Osmeña instead had a drug test using a hair sample in a hospital in Cebu City in the afternoon.
Rama’s dare was for them to meet at the Plaza Independencia where they would undergo a “one-on-one” drug test.
Rama issued the challenge to Osmeña as a way of addressing allegations of drug use, which was made worse when he was named as an alleged drug protector by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Osmeña accepted the challenge, but he rejected the condition that both would meet at Plaza Independencia.
Both submitted themselves to drug tests yesterday at different times and different laboratories.
Osmeña said that whether Rama had undergone drug testing, the issue would still remain that he is a drug protector as mentioned by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte.
“But you don’t have to rely on the President. You just look at these circumstances: There are a lot of drugs in his (Rama’s allied) barangays. Barangay Ermita (Roel Secretaria) Yawa is from there. Duljo Fatima, (Jeffrey Diaz) Jaguar is from there. I know he has connections. That is why I challenge him to a lie detector test,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña added that a lie detector test might not be needed just by looking at the body language of Rama and the latter’s allies’ actions.
Budget cut
He said that the Team Rama bloc reduced appropriation for the antidrug campaign of the city from P50 million to P5 million, which Osmeña considered as a bad sign.
“These are bad signs, you cannot cut it down. You know what I honestly think? He (Rama) wants the drug lord to support him in the next barangay elections. That is his signal. ‘(You) see, I’m going to be the mayor, it’s quite to be like this, if Tommy Osmeña is the mayor, you’re dead.’ Many of them (drug lords) died,” Osmeña said.
Hair samples are taken from former mayor Michael Rama as he submits the samples for his drug test at Hi-Precision and Diagnostics last Saturday morning. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
In due time
But Rama said he is not afraid of Osmeña’s challenge and he will focus on that in due time.
“Dili ta mahadlok ana daghan man istoryahan (like) Jaguar, okay. Kinsay kailang Jaguar? Di mi kaila ni Jaguar. Kinsay gisuportahan ni Jaguar? Wa ko kadawat sa suporta ni Jaguar. Wala ko kadaug sa Duljo nga naa si Jaguar (I am not afraid of those questions, if they ask about Jaguar, okay. Who knew Jaguar? I don’t know him. Who did Jagaur support? I did not receive any support from Jaguar. And I did not win in Duljo where Jaguar resided),” Rama said.
Rama also criticized Osmeña for going after barangays allied with the former mayor.
“Ayaw sigeg gukod sa akong mga barangay kay wa nay gusto nimo. Ayaw paludha because nahug naman siya nga fiscal, complainant, abogado, or huwes making conclusion which is not correct. And under the rule of law if duna kay problema (sa barangay) file og kaso,” said Rama.
Rama’s tests
Yesterday morning, Rama took a drug test in a private laboratory despite a no-show of his political rival Osmeña at Plaza Independencia.
Rama arrived at Plaza Independencia at 9 a.m. and waited for Osmeña for 45 minutes before deciding to go to Hi-Precision Diagnostics along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City and took the drug test alone.
Rama said he was not expecting Osmeña to show up at the Plaza.
“I never expected him to come. And I should not be also expecting whether he should come or not. I just want the whole thing zero-in and over. Six months has already been over, and it is still being mentioned as a matter of discussion by him. Kinsa man wa ka move on ani (Who has not moved on in this issue)?” Rama said.
The former mayor submitted urine and hair follicle samples. The results would be released in 14 days.
Osmeña’s turn
After Rama took a drug test on Saturday morning, Osmeña also submitted himself to a drug test at St. Vincent General Hospital at 3 p.m.
Witnessed by St. Vincent General Hospital’s owner, lawyer Augusto Go, Osmeña submitted hair follicle samples to be used as specimen for the drug test.
Similar to Rama’s test, the results of his test will be available in 14 days.
At 3:49 p.m yesterday, Osmeña posted another photo in his Facebook page showing him sitting and answering questions from the media. Lawyer Go was also in the picture standing beside him.
In the post, he explained why he decided to take the drug test.
“Seriously, I did this not to cater to the whims of someone (Rama) who obviously has nothing else to do, but because I owe it to the Cebuanos,” Osmeña said.
He said now that he has taken on the challenge he encouraged everyone to focus on something that would be good for Cebu.
“Now that this whole circus is behind us, let us focus on something that is actually good for Cebu. Thanks to Cong. Del Mar, Vicente Sotto now has a brand-new building with more than a hundred additional beds so people do not have to wait so long for proper service,” he said.
“I also have big news regarding the development of the Cebu City Medical Center. Details coming soon,” Osmeña said in his Facebook post.