Osmeña to shoulder cost of legal assistance to fight Carbon Market privatization

Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña says during a press briefing today that he will help the public to keep the Carbon Market. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will shoulder the cost of the legal assistance to fight Carbon Market privatization.

In a rare press conference, the former mayor appeared in front of Carbon Market vendors and promised them that Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) would help them keep the Carbon Market with the public.

“It is an insult to the people of Cebu. Baga iyang (Mayor Michael Rama) nawng, iyang giadmit nga he did not read it. Mao na naghangyo silag curative measures kuno,” Osmeña said.

(It is an insult to the people of Cebu. He (Mayor Michael Rama) has the gall to admit that he did not read it. That is why they requested for curative measures.)

“It’s already illegal, the crime has been committed, now daghan kaayog rason nga we will be able to cancel the contract,” said the former mayor.

(It’s already illegal, the crime has been committed, now, we have several reasons that we will be able to cancel the contract.)

Osmeña offered his resources and promised the vendors that he would shoulder the cost for any legal action against the Carbon Market Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) of the city government and the Megawide Construction Corp.

“Mohatag kog assurance nga andam ko motabang sa tanang gasto sa legal…moabot gyod ang hustisya sa mga pobre,” he said.

(I will give the assurance that I am ready to help in all the legal expenses … justice will reach the poor.)

Should his wife, former Councilor Margot Osmeña, be elected as mayor of the city in 2022, he said she would exhaust all efforts to rescind the contract if it would mean a court battle.

“A public market is a public market, it is not a private market… ang tuyo sa public market nga mohatag og place sa mga ginagmay nga vendors… dili na tuyo sa gobyerno nga naay mosagol nga makakwarta sa market. The project is very anti-poor,” said the former mayor.

(A public market is a public market, it is not a private market…the reason for a public market is to give a place for the small vendors…It is not the objective of the government that there will be moneyed people, who can gain from the market. The project is very anti-poor.)

Incumbent Mayor Rama said Osmeña had the right to his own “imagination.”

“He is entitled to his imagination. There is a timetable for that (supplemental MOA). Ang MOA, which I was very clear is regarding refinement, amendment, and purely curative direction,” said the mayor.

Rama said the negotiations were ongoing and he would want the concrete progress by January 2022.

He promised the vendors that there would be changes in the JVA by next year before the permanent infrastructure would be put in place.

As for political comments of his opponents, Rama said they could criticize all they want, but the city would continue to do what would be best for the public.

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