BOPK SWEEPS SK FEDERATION POLLS

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña (left) administers the oath of office to the newly elected SK Federation officers headed by President Jessica Resch (2nd from left) from Barangay San Nicolas Proper at the Parklane International Hotel on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Resch is allied with Osmeña’s BOPK Party.

Tomas sets eyes on ABC polls to ensure majority in council

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is one step away from getting his wish — a majority in the highly divisive City Council.

An ally of the administration party, Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) was elected president of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation in Cebu City on Tuesday.

This means Jessica Resch, SK chairperson-elect of Barangay San Nicolas Proper, will sit as ex-officio member of the City Council.

Resch won by a margin of 10 votes against Ma. Sonia Fate Cal, SK chairperson-elect of Barangay

Tisa, who is identified with the opposition group, Barug Team Rama-PDP Laban,

Resch, 21, whose father is Austrian, received 44 votes while Cal had 34 votes.

According to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Cebu City which supervised the elections held at a hotel here, two SK chairpersons opted not to vote for SK Federation president.

Although it could not be determined how the SK chairpersons voted, the results indicated that most of the youth leaders toed the party line.

There are 43 SK chairpersons who are affiliated with the BOPK while 37 others belong to Barug.

Resch told reporters that she planned to meet all 80 SK chairpersons in Cebu City in order to come up with the group’s priorities and agenda.

But Resch refused to comment on Osmeña’s offer to give P1 million in financial assistance to each SK chairperson in the city provided that they would elect a president supportive of the mayor’s agenda.

Now that the SK Cebu City Federation election was over, Osmeña was setting his eyes on the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) where the elected president would sit as City Council ex-officio member.

He said he wanted to make sure that BOPK would get both the ABC and SK Federation slots to gain the majority in the council.

“We need to get both,” he said.

Osmeña feared that the appellate court might reverse the Ombudsman’s decision to dismiss opposition Councilor James Cuenco, paving for the latter’s return to the council.

Another possibility would be Cuenco’s dismissal would be deemed final, allowing the President to appoint Cuenco’s replacement who would be recommended by Barug.

Either way, Osmeña said, the opposition would gain the majority in the council by one vote.

At present, both Barug and BOPK have eight members in the council. Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella of Barug can only vote in case of a tie, being the presiding officer.

Cuenco was ordered dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman after he was found guilty of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct for using falsified documents in the disbursement of public funds.

The charges stemmed from the implementation of a P3.3-million medicine assistance program charged to the pork barrel funds of his father, former Cebu City Congressman Antonio Cuenco, when he was the latter’s chief of staff.

Osmeña said he was “very grateful” with the results of the SK Federation election since it meant that he already got one of the two ex-officio seats in the council.

“At least, kompara sa wala, arang-arang na gyud ni (compared to nothing, one is better),” he said.

But former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama of Barug said the result of the SK Federation election was not surprising.

“I expected it but our group did a good job from the beginning,” said Rama.

All 80 SK chairpersons in Cebu City took part in the election at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel on Tuesday.

They first joined the orientation conducted by the DILG-Cebu City inside the hotel on Monday and stayed there overnight for the election the next day.

The casting of votes, which was held behind closed doors, started at 11 a.m. and lasted for two hours.

By 1 p.m., winners were declared.

Aside from Resch, the new set of SK Federation officers for Cebu City are Joseph Gepte, vice president; Dexter Auxtero, secretary; Anton Miñoza, treasurer; Trisha de Castro, auditor; Sharmaine Maloloy-on, public relations officer; and Samson Go and Jhansien Malapit, sergeants-at-arms.

The elected SK Federation – Cebu City officers are all allied with Osmeña and immediately took their oath before the mayor, an hour after the results were released.

They would assume their posts on June 30.

Two SK chairpersons chose not to vote for SK Federation president, said Emma Joyvelyn Calvo, DILG-Cebu City director.

“They did not abstain. They did not vote for the president but they cast their votes for the subsequent positions,” she said.

While the SK chairpersons cast their votes behind closed doors, several local officials were waiting outside the venue.

Among them were Osmeña and his two allies — Councilor Dave Tumulak and Barangay Captain- elect Franklin Ong of Kasambagan.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia and Apas Barangay Councilor-elect Ramil Ayuman who were with Barug were also outside the venue.

Calvo said they prohibited outsiders from entering the venue based on the joint memorandum circular No. 2017 – 01 issued by the DILG, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the National Youth Commission (NYC) in 2017.

“Only the BES (board of election supervisors) are allowed inside the venue once the orientation and the elections for the SK Federation starts. The BES is composed of members from the DILG, Comelec, and NYC,” said Calvo.

Several officers from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), and representatives from Church-based organization Dilaab Foundation Inc. were present during the elections as observers.

Both Resch and Cal agreed that the elections went on smoothly and orderly without any heated arguments.

But Garcia claimed that four SK chairpersons in Cebu City —three from the south district and another from the north district, should have been disqualified since they were overage.

The Comelec has mandated that the SK chairperson and the seven members must be aged 18 to 24.

“So these four names, we will file the necessary proceedings either in Comelec or in court. If you’re over 24 by the time of the elections, that’s against the law. And your certificate of candidacy should be cancelled,” explained Garcia.

The cases, however, would not affect the outcome of the SK Federation election since it had already been conducted, he added.

Lawyer Marchel Sarno, Comelec – Cebu City North District Officer, said they had yet to receive information about Garcia’s claim.

Calvo also said they had not received any official documents from the Comelec, declaring four SK chairpersons as disqualified.

“We’ve heard unofficial reports but we haven’t received any documents from the Comelec. So the BES, with lawyer Sarno, decided to go on with the elections,” she added. /with STC Intern Candy Baraga