Osmeña: Don’t blame me for Rama’s fall

Former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena (CDN FILE PHOTO)

FORMER mayor Tomas Osmeña denied that he worked behind the scenes for the preventive suspension of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

“You know, Mike Rama’s greatest ability is to put me at fault for everything. Anything that goes wrong is made my fault,” said  Osmeña answering queries at the Cebu Blogging Summit 2015 in the Century Plaza Hotel, where he was one of several public and private individuals invited to a forum.

Osmeña said he finds the suspension ordered by the Office of the President valid because no due process was followed when a barangay center island in Labangon was demolished last year without a court order.

“We live in a city with rules in  government and he did not follow it. That’s what happens ,”he said.

Rama, who will be unseated for 60 days, has called his suspension politically motivated since he is not with the administration party.  His lawyers have challenged the order as void of legal basis in a petition for certiorari with injunction filed last Friday with the Court of Appeals Cebu station.

“I am not the one who demolished barangay Labangon. You know it was not a good idea to demolish it. The barangay already spent (P300,000),” said Osmeña.

He said barangay captain Victor Buendia, who is running for a council seat under Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) next year, already had permission from Mayor Rama to build the road divider and street lamp project.

He said the mayor has done similar demolitions with not relocation for the settlers in the Doña Pepang Cemetery, Taboan Market, Warwick Barracks,and Capitol site.

“He (Rama) demolished without relocation. There are people who are poor and up today, they have no place where to live,” he said.

Both candidates, Rama and Osmeña, were invited to the forum.

Bjorn Bernales, one of the forum organizers, said that Rama did not respond to the invitation to speak before around 100 bloggers.

“We want bloggers to be more open-minded about politicians since most of us stay neutral, although there are some who are very  vocal about endorsing a candidate,” said Bersales.

Gubernatorial aspirant Winston Garcia showed up and spoke for almost 45 minutes.  Gov. Hilario Davide III declined to attend due to a schedule conflict.

Each candiate was given five minutes to present his platform but since two were absent, the two who attended had more leeway with their presentation.

Asked about his  programs if he is elected back to City Hall, Osmena talked about opening eight more farmer’s markets in Cebu City because the pilot site in South Road Properties, where people are  buying fresh produce at lower prices “is a phenomenon.”

“I’d like to brag that we are only one doing this in the Philippines, having the farmer’s market. I will make sure Cebuanos will enjoy lower prices,” he said.

He discussed about the South Road Properties (SRP) as a source of revenue to make Cebu City financially stable and self reliant for the next two generations.

“That is why  I am not in favor into selling of everything. The SRP is a complex financial structure,” Osmena said.

He expressed his continuing support to  Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas, whom he credited for stimulating the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in Cebu, that currently provides jobs for 100,000 Cebuanos.

“Our biggest opportunity today is the call center. It is there. Before I became mayor, there were so many college graduates that had no jobs,” he added.

Osmeña said he was the first to endorse Roxas even before President Benigno Aquino III became president.

Asked if he would support fellow Bisasya, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for president, Osmeña said the mayor was inconsistent.

“When I asked (Rody) if he was running for president he said ”no I am not.” As a leader, I cannot tell my people, okay today we are for Duterte and maybe tomorrow for someone else. There is an issue of consistency. He is not consistent,” he said.

On the P30,000 bonus recently approved for Cebu city government workers , Osmeña said the amount was too much.

“As a public servant, you should know who is the public and who is the servant. It is the government employees that is the servant,” he said.

“If you earned it, I don’t care. There is so much money that has been thrown left and right. Ten thousands peso is okay but P30,000 is not okay,” he added.