CEBU CITY, Philippines—Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has asked incumbent Mayor Edgardo Labella that he be allowed to restore the Mayor’s Office back to its 2016 state.
In a letter dated July 18, 2019, Osmeña said to Labella that the stripping bare of the Mayor’s Office was actually a removal of all his personal belongings in the office and to restore it to its 2016 state.
Read more: Osmeña strips off his office of furnishings as he ends his term
“The work was supposed to continue the next day. However, your lawyers, Rey Gealon and Floro Casas, Jr., interfered on June 28, 2019. They also brought the elements of the Philippine National Police to the Office. This caused the unfinished work to stop,” said Osmeña in the letter.
Osmeña asked that the contractors be allowed to work in the office for the restoration, as it should have been completed if this was not stopped by the new city administrator and city legal officer.
“I have only removed my personal belongings, but the restoration of the office to its 2016 state is still incomplete due to the interruption, intervention, and stoppage brought about by your lawyers as above-mentioned,” the letter further read.
Read more: Labella tells bizmen: Office of the Mayor in shambles
The legal counsel of Osmeña, Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, told reporters that the former mayor hopes that Labella will know the real story behind the alleged demolition of the Mayor’s office.
“We would like to emphasize that at the time Attorneys Gealon and Casas interfered in the removal of personal items in the mayor’s office, Tomas Osmeña was still mayor. He still had the right to remove his personal items, and to restore the office to how it was in 2016,” said Ligutan.
He further added that Casas and Gealon’s interference caused the further delay of the restoration, when at that time, they did not have right to interfere.
“We did not want to rain on their parade. But we know all along that Labella’s camp did not know the whole story,” said Ligutan.
Labella, for his part, said he will leave let the lawyers to handle the letter of the former mayor since the case has been filed already against the matter.
The city government has filed charges of theft and graft and corruption against Osmeña at the Officr of the Ombudsman following the incident. /bmjo