Gomez asks Osmeña to reconsider withdrawal of aid
Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez yesterday apologized to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña for any “miscommunication” that led the Cebu mayor to withdraw plans to donate P10 million to the quake-stricken city in Leyte.
In a post in the Ormoc City Government’s Facebook Page, Gomez clarified that his city government is still interested in pursuing the donation.
“For any miscommunication, I sincerely apologize. I have already written Mayor Osmeña asking for reconsideration. And I am hopeful that Mayor Osmeña will reconsider his intent to withdraw the assistance which we so direly need,” read the post.
Cebu City was supposed and ready to give a P10-million financial assistance to Ormoc City, which was hit by a 6.5- magnitude earthquake last August, for the purchase of 13 power generator sets needed to run the city’s damaged water pumps.
But Mayor Osmeña said the Ormoc City government has not been doing its part in formalizing the turnover of the assistance, prompting him to decide to instead donate the money to the fund raising project for the families of the soldiers who died in the siege of Marawi City.
Aside from the grant for Ormoc City, the mayor also planned to divert to the fund raising drive the P2 million intended for San Francisco, Surigao del Norte, which was also hit by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake last February 10.
Disappointed
Gomez said they were “disappointed” with the news of Osmeña’s withdrawal saying the Ormoc City Council was set to pass a resolution giving him authority to sign the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the donation in their regular session today, a Thursday.
“It is unfortunate that there seems to be a misunderstanding here. We do the rounds asking for assistance, and when able we even personally go to the donor/s to express our thanks. If you think about it, it really does not make sense for the City of Ormoc to snub a donation, any donation for that matter, especially if it is given sincerely,” read the statement.
He added that the Osmeñas are “respected friends” of Ormoc with former Cebu Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmeña, the mayor’s cousin, being an “adopted son” of the city after spearheading relief efforts during the 1991 killer flood there.
Former Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon, an Ormocanon, also appealed to Osmeña to change his mind.
Dizon, who was assigned by Osmeña to do a post-disaster needs assessment of Ormoc City, said he sent a text message to Osmeña yesterday asking him to reconsider his decision but the latter, who talked to him by phone, was not keen on changing his decision.
“I’m sad with what happened because I am an Ormocanon. … Well, it’s really up to the local government of Ormoc how they can convince Mayor Tommy who seems firm on his decision already,” Dizon told Cebu Daily News.
Next time
In his press conference yesterday, Osmeña said Ormoc City has failed to take advantage of the opportunity and that “priorities have overtaken them.”
He said as early as mid September, Cebu City already asked Ormoc City officials to come over but they reportedly did not respond. Another invitation was sent in October but they also did not show up.
“I said okay lang, I’m not playing pakipot (It’s okay, I’m not playing hard to get). But apparently, they have demonstrated they’re not interested,” he said.
It even came to a point, he said, that Ormoc City requested that Cebu City just send the financial assistance. Osmeña said he was okay with it as long as there was a resolution from the Ormoc City Council authorizing Gomez to do so. But no resolution came.
Over the weekend, however, Osmeña decided the money had better use than giving it to Ormoc City.
He said he was attending a party of the wife of Douglas Ludo when Mr. Ludo told him that they were organizing an event for victims of the war in Marawi City, particularly for the families of the soldiers who died in retaking the city from Muslim extremists. The Ludo couple planned to donate P1 million to the cause, the mayor said.
The Cebu Country Club, he added, was also sponsoring a golf tournament to raise money for the same cause and he was asked to be part of the activity. That was when the mayor said he decided to just give to them what was intended for Ormoc City and San Francisco, Surigao del Norte.
“Let’s just end the subject matter right there. We will help them (Ormoc City), after the next disaster,” Osmeña said.
Gomez canceled on invite
According to Dizon, who has been helping prepare the donation for Ormoc, Cebu City had invited Mayor Gomez twice to come to Cebu for a ceremonial signing of the MOA for the donation.
The first schedule was last September 13 but a representative from Gomez’s office told them that they could only send a representative. But Dizon said they wanted Gomez to come to do a symbolic signing of the MOA and get the check.
On the first week of October, he said they agreed to reset the activity on October 23. But before the date came, they were informed by a staff of Gomez that he canceled his trip to Cebu since he had another commitment to attend to.
It was during this time when Ormoc City officials requested that the money be just deposited to their bank account. Dizon said Mayor Osmeña agreed on the condition that Gomez be given authority from their City Council, which he said was not done.
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