City Hall pauses in honor of ex-VM Osmeña

Vice Mayor Renato Osmeña File Photo

CEBU City Hall yesterday paused for awhile yesterday to honor the life of a man who served the city for 15 years as vice mayor and as city councilor.

The remains of former vice mayor Renato Osmeña was brought to the Social Hall of the Legislative Building for a necrological service around 2 p.m. yesterday.

Osmena, 74, died of a heart attack Thursday dawn while at the Intensive Care Unit of the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital.

Msgr. Roberto Alesna officiated the Requiem for Osmeña which was followed by a necrological service. The remains of the former vice mayor was scheduled to be taken back to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes last night where it will be cremated on Monday.

In his eulogy, Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella recalled how the vice mayor would always seek him out for advice on legal issues when he was a neophyte councilor in 1998. Labella was a director in the Office of the Ombudsman before joining politics.

Labella said Osmeña’s gesture gave him the confidence to actively participate in City Council discussions, he added.

“I admired his humility. He may be strict, but it was because he wanted things done,” Labella said.

Former councilors Procopio Fernandez, Jose Navarro and Rodolfo Cabrera also eulogized the deceased politician.

Osmeña was city councilor from 1981 to 1986 and 1992 to 1995 and was vice mayor for two terms, from 1995 to 2001.