Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama. Photo courtesy of Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama would file a “tsunami” of lawsuits against those who sued him and members of his team.
“Kami sad magpusot-pusot sad ta’g file og kaso,” Rama said in an interview over the RMN Sugbuanon Channel on Tuesday, April 30.
The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) and Cebu Port Authority filed separate complaints against Rama and other city officials before the Office of the President (OP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
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The MCWD filed a case against Rama for grave misconduct, abuse of authority, and oppression. They also accused him as the one who ordered the “illegal intrusion” into the MCWD main office by Cebu City personnel.
The MCWD filed the same complaints against City administrator Collin Rosell, City budget officer Jerone Castillo, City attorney Carlo Vincent Gimena, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Harold Alcontin, and Road Management Authority head Raquel Arce before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
Meanwhile, ther CPA also complained against Rama after the city government installed rail fences, blocking the entrance of the port extension project across the Compania Maritima for lack of building permit.
Rama, however, said he was not surprised by MCWD’s and CPA’s move.
“Kahibaw ka simple kaayo, what else is new?” Rama said.
Rama assured his fellow city officials that he would help them address these complaints.
The mayor even ordered City Administrator Collin Rosell to summon the city’s lawyers, even those in private office, to gather and think about their next move.
“Dili nako motubag, but I am very clear about what is in line with the authority of the mayor, as provided by the Local Government Code, and supported by the Constitution, that promotes autonomy,” he added.
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Meanwhile, Rama lamented the move of suspended MCWD board of director (BOD) Chairman Jose Daluz III, members Miguelito Pato and Jodelyn May Seno, and General Manager Edgar Donoso, in suing him when their status at the water district is under question.
“Unsa man nang mga utok (nila) nga bisan og gi-suspend (nana sila), mao man gihapon?” he asked.
Daluz, Seno, and Pato were suspended by the LWUA starting March 15, after an interim BOD was created to intervene in the water district’s operations.