THERE should not be a three-way mayoral race in Cebu City in 2019.
Despite the declarations of Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and former Mayor Michael Rama that they intended to vie for the mayoral post in the 2019 elections, their allies in Barug Team Rama-PDP laban maintain they would only endorse one standard bearer.
Councilors Raymond Alvin Garcia and Joel Garganera said their party is only undergoing a normal phase in choosing their standard bearer.
“We will assure you that on the day of the filing, there will only be one candidate who will file his COC [Certificate of Candidacy] for mayor … We will get to choose who will be the most formidable for next year’s elections,” Garganera said in a phone interview on Sunday.
Garganera said their party members are still determining who they think is best suited to run for the mayoral post.
“It depends on what the political climate will be as we move forward in the coming days. We will be having some surveys and there will be challenges also on how they will carry themselves until the day of the filing,” Garganera said.
Garganera said he was confident that both Rama and Labella were aware of the implications if they would run against each other.
“They are not stupid to run for the same position. To me that is a no-brainer and for sure, they are not going to make that happen,” Garganera said.
Garcia also assured that their coalition is still intact, with all parties actively communicating with each other.
“Kami man gud sa partido (We in the party), we are talking. Mayor Mike and Vice Mayor Labella are also talking,” said Garcia.
“There is really no split as of now. But I don’t see that happening because I think we can really resolve this,” Garcia added.
Garcia believed that Labella’s pronouncement only signified that the vice mayor is ready to take on the mayoral race if he will be chosen by the party.
“For me, it’s not really alarming. It will only be alarming when in October, both of them will file their COC as mayor. But as of now, it’s too early yet,” said Garcia.
Garganera also pointed out that while Osmeña’s group, the Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) still has not identified who will be in their 2019 ticket, Garganera said Barug has already prepared a line up for councilors and congressmen for the North and South Districts of Cebu City.
Boring drama
Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña shrugged off the pronouncements of Rama and Labella that they would both run for mayor against him in May next year.
“In the end, before the election day, both will join with tears of joy that they will be finally united to create the bandwagon effect. To me, this is another boring drama,” Osmeña said in a text reply to CDN.
Osmeña said that Rama and Labella would need to join forces to have a fair chance against him in next year’s poll. And he would only believe that Rama and Labella would truly want to vie for the same post if the two would start throwing mud at each other.
“When they start exposing each other’s anomalies, that is when I believe there is a real split,” Osmeña added.