Councilor Abella replacement still unclear

THE Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) camp remains mum on whether or not the group will endorse a nominee to replace recently resigned Cebu City Councilor Nendell Hanz Abella.

Majority floor leader, Councilor Margarita Osmeña, would neither confirm nor deny the claims of Barug Team Rama that BO-PK has been lobbying for Rengelle Pelayo, a former Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) federation president, to replace Abella.

“I cannot confirm anything. I can’t. They (Team Rama) seem to know naman what’s happening. They always know what’s happening. You let them believe what they want to believe,” she told reporters yesterday.

But while she refused to confirm the claims, Councilor Osmeña said Pelayo was cut out for the job if she really is being pushed to replace Abella.

“We know Rengelle. She was the SK president… I would even tell Tommy, she’s good. I know Rengelle quite well. She would be a very capable colleague,” she said.

Osmeña recalled that she worked with Pelayo for a few months in 2010 when she first became city councilor and Pelayo sat as ex-officio member of the City Council until October 2010 when a new SK president was elected.

Cebu Daily News tried to reach Pelayo for comments but messages sent to her Facebook account as well as calls to her cell phone were left unanswered.

Barug Team Rama

It was opposition Councilor Joel Garganera who claimed that BO-PK has been asking the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) through Senator Manny Pacquiao to get Pelayo appointed in place of Abella.

Abella resigned early this month, after his appointment as commissioner of the 7th National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

Branding BO-PK’s move as a “devious scheme,” Garganera said he was informed about it by an UNA insider.

In the May 2016 elections, Abella ran and won under Barug Team Rama, an affiliate of UNA. He defected to BO-PK late last year.

Under the Local Government Code, the nomination and certificate of membership shall be signed by the highest official of the party under which Abella ran. Political watchers believe that would be UNA, if Abella’s certificate of candidacy was to be used as basis.

Since Abella’s resignation from the Council, the Rama camp has been floating the names of possible Team Rama choices to replace Abella including Renato “Junjun” Osmeña Jr. and Inayawan Barangay Captain Lutherlee “Lotlot” Ignacio-Soon who both ran but lost last year under Team Rama.

Former mayor Michael Rama’s name also came up as possible nominee although he already said he was not interested.

Barug Team Rama officials are set to meet, Thursday, to discuss their formal nominees who will serve the remainder of Abella’s term. The recommendation shall be approved by the Office of the President.

Rama also called for a press conference to reveal details of a meeting with UNA 2016 standard bearer, former vice president Jejomar Binay and his daughter Nancy.

“I will discuss it with you. I can tell you more about the real situation. I came from Manila. I had a tit for tat with (former) VP (Jejomar) Binay and with Senator (Nancy) Binay,” Rama told CDN.