Only one of four Osmeñas emerged victorious in May 2019 polls
Serge . Tomas Junjun Sonny
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Four members of the influential Osmeña clan in Cebu sought different positions in the May 13 midterm elections but only one emerged victorious.
Renato “Junjun” Osmeña Jr., son of former Cebu City vice mayor Renato Osmeña, earned a spot as a member of the Cebu City Council representing the city’s south district.
The three others – former senator Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III, his younger brother and outgoing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and outgoing Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña – lost in their respective races.
Serge sought election for senator while Tomas sought reelection for Cebu City mayor. Sonny run for third district representative but lost to congressman-elect Pablo John Garcia.
Vote-Time Graph data released at 2 p.m. today, May 15, show that Serge occupied the 17th spot in the senatorial race with at least 9.2 million votes.
Tomas also lost by 18, 900 votes to Cebu City mayor-elect Edgar Labella who was already proclaimed winner in the Cebu City mayoral race by members of the City Board of Canvassers on Tuesday, May 14.
He gathered a total of 246, 813 votes as against the 265, 738 votes of Labella.
As of 2 p.m. today, May 15, the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBC) already canvassed 127,521 votes for congressman-elect Pablo John Garcia and 75,294 votes for Sonny Osmeña. The PBC already canvassed 99.77 percent of the votes cast in Cebu province in Monday’s election.
Garcia is set to be proclaimed winner in the third district congressional race before the day is over.
Private Citizen
But despite his defeat, Tomas said in a statement which he posted on his Facebook page at dawn on Tuesday dawn that he will continue to help Cebuanos in his capacity as a private citizen.
“You are, and always will be, the priority. Leadership and service require no position. I will always be ready to defend those who cannot defend themselves,” Tomas said on his FB post.
He also asked newly elected city officials to take care of the legacies that he will be leaving behind including the 300-hectare South Road Properties (SRP).
“The seed we planted called the SRP is still there. I can only hope that it will not be squandered once again. The SRP is like a mango tree; it is meant to bear the fruit for our children to enjoy. Let us not chop down the tree and sacrifice our children’s tomorrow for today. Let us take care of our tree,” said his post.
Sonny, the older brother of former Cebu governor Emilio Mario “Lito” Osmeña and cousin of Serge and Tomas, begged off from granting an interview with CDN Digital, the online arm of Inquirer.net in Cebu.
The legacy of the Osmeñas in the Philippine politics can be traced back to Don Sergio Osmeña, the fourth president of the Philippines.
Sergio “Serging” Osmeña, son of the former president and father of Serge and Tomas, also served as Philippine senator during the pre-martial law years or from 1965 to 1971./dcb
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