Rama blasts critics, backs city police chief
RATHER than criticize and sabotage his administration, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama called on critics yesterday to look at his accomplishments.
In a speech during yesterday’s 79th City Charter Day celebration, Rama said he carried the values of his grandfather, Don Vicente Rama, in his 24 years of public service.
Don Vicente Rama was the Father of the Cebu City Charter.
“In all of history, in all of my memory, corruption was never my cup of tea, and this is what Don Vicente Rama taught the whole Rama family,” the mayor said.
Rama also challenged his predecessor, mayoral aspirant Tomas Osmeña, to show what he had done for Cebu City.
“Despite my 60-day suspension, my service to the Cebuanos was never thwarted, subverted . . . it never stopped,” he said.
Rama referred to his 60-day suspension ordered by the Office of the President, saying that he felt that he was suspended for doing the right thing when he ordered the removal of the center island in Barangay Labangon.
An administrative case was filed by Barangay Labangon chairman Victor Buendia, an Osmeña ally, against Rama in relation to the removal.
Rama’s allies in the City Council—Councilors Hanz Abella, Richard Osmeña and Dave Tumulak—were also questioned by the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc for the use of the calamity funds to fund their travel expenses in last year’s climate summit in Paris, France.
“Despite all this, I ask us to be strong. I am here for all of you, and you are all here for me. In the months to come, the true verdict will be handed down, and the people are the judge,” Rama told over 5,000 City Hall employees in Plaza Sugbu.
Rama also introduced Senior Supt. Benjamin Santos as the new acting Cebu City police chief.
While the mayor was lukewarm over Santos’s appointment, he still urged Santos to ensure the peace and order situation in Cebu City.
“You will come and go, but please leave a memory, that when you handle the police, you will not think of anyone else, but the people, and to serve and protect them,” Rama told Santos onstage.
Rama told reporters that he accepted Santos’s assignment as city police chief.
Santos later said he will order the police to be more proactive by raising police visibility in the streets.
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