Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella shows support to Vice Mayor Michael Rama after the latter has been indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman for graft and corruption. But for how long will unity hold up?
|CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama said he is not threatened with the revival of two parties in Cebu City that would essentially separate from Barug Team Rama.
The Partido Panaighiusa of former councilor Jose “Joey” Daluz, III and the Kugi Uswag Sugbo (KUSUG) Party of incumbent Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia has announced revival and signified the formation of a coalition with Barug PDP-Laban.
Barug-PDP Laban is also a coalition of the local party of Rama and the national party of Mayor Edgardo Labella. Both Panaghiusa and KUSUG expressed support to Labella.
“Political parties? Ngano mathreaten man ang Barug nga kana silang tanan kauban mana sa pagpanerbisyo. Unya wala man mi magsabot nga mag-away mi. So ang ending diha hopefully mag-abot ra mi. Coalition? Wa jod koy problema,” said Rama in a phone interview.
Rama said he has no problems with his former members, particularly Daluz who was the vice president of Barug, and his close ally, Garcia, leaving Barug because their own parties will most likely still be allies of Barug Team Rama.
“I don’t own anyone. Therefore, puros ra nako sila kaiban sila,” he added.
As of now, Rama claims there have been no talks of banner candidates for the party yet and there has been no agreement yet on who will run for mayor and vice mayor of the city.
He said that as of now, it will be too early to agree on someone since the filing of candidacy will still be on October 2020. He also did not say if he will be running for another term as vice mayor or for the mayoral post.
As for Labella, he said that he is happy that revived parties remain allies with the Barug-PDP Laban.
“We are stronger than ever and being the president of the PDP Laban in Cebu, I welcome Panaghiusa, Kusog, and other regional parties. It makes us stronger,” said Labella.
The mayor has also stayed silent on his plans for the next 2022 elections. /rcg