Simple food, only Leni as VIP guest in Tom, BO-PK oathtaking

NO VIPs except for Vice President-elect Leni Robredo will be on hand to grace the oathtaking ceremony of Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña and other officials elected under the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) tomorrow, June 28.

“No VIPs. There’s no guest list. No consuls. No ambassadors. No chamber of commerce. No commissioners. No police officials. Nothing. If they want to show up, fine,” Osmeña said in a press conference at his home in Barangay Guadalupe.

Osmeña even said there will only be meat rolls, some fried chicken and juice after the event.

“And I’m paying for it, so don’t complain. This would be the cheapest inauguration you would see in the history of Cebu… Mike Rama wants to spend P20 million for his inauguration,” he said.

The ceremony, which is scheduled at 4 p.m. in the Cebu City Sports Center, won’t even exceed 30 minutes, Osmeña said.

He said the ceremony will start with four different invocations: Catholic, Iglesia ni Cristo, Protestant and Muslim.

It will be followed by the actual oathtaking then a short speech by Robredo and Osmeña.

“I don’t want to have a long speech. All I want to do is thank the people who helped me, thank the people who took (Mike) Rama’s money and voted for me,” he said.

In yesterday’s press conference, Osmeña also announced that City Hall employees should not attend the ceremony and remain at work since it’s still office hours at that time.

He said though that he will issue direct exemptions to some of his “close staff” to attend.

But even if there are no formal invitations, Osmeña posted in his official Facebook page a public invitation to those who want to witness their oathtaking.

Osmeña said there will be no dress code for those who will attend except for the officials themselves who will have to wear a Barong Tagalog or a Filipiniana attire.