Screengrabbed from Cebu City PIO live video.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said his father, the late Sergio “Serging” Osmeña Jr., was more than just a Filipino. “He was a Cebuano.”
“He loved Cebu City more than most. Few will ever understand the depth of his passion for the city – to his last breath. To me, he was not a Filipino. He was a Cebuano. If you can’t comprehend that then you will never understand Serging Osmeña,” he said in a message sent to CDN Digital.
Tomas reminisced how much his late father loved his birth place during his 10th birth anniversary on Saturday, December 4.
Serging was known for having paved the way for the creation of the Ceboom phenomena which brought the city into the limelight as one of the most developed localities in the country.
He was among the legislators credited for establishment of the North Reclamation Area, which to this day remains to be a major economic hub in the northern part of the city.
Serging, a a member of the Liberal Party, also strongly opposed the martial rule of the late president Ferdinand Marcos, the reason why he was sent to exile in the United States. He was still in exile in Los Angeles when he died on March 26, 1984 at the age of 67.
To honor this great Cebuano, the Cebu City government offered flowers at Serging’s statue located at the Plaza Sugbo.
In his message, Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros said Serging must be remembered as the fiscalizer and visionary that he was.
“He must have had the biggest shoes to fill being the son of the Grand Old Man, himself. His father who was the first Cebuano President of the Philippines. But Serging rose to his own accord and was always associated as being the fiscalizer,” Hontiveros said.
The vice mayor also encourage other politicians like him and even the ordinary Cebuanos to emulate Serging’s examples.
He urged Cebuanos to make the right decisions, especially during the pandemic. He asked the public to get their COVID-19 vaccines because this was a choice that will bring progress of Cebu, a progress that Serging envisioned for all. / dcb