A CONSTRUCTION crew worked overtime to renovate the eighth floor office of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday.
Osmeña’s eighth floor office is at the City Hall legislative building which he occupied six years ago.
It was converted into a VIP lounge by his predecessor, outgoing mayor Michael Rama.
As of yesterday morning, 11 carpenters from Dakay Construction busied themselves cladding the walls, ceiling and the wooden panels of the mayor’s office.
The door to Osmeña’s office is a simple two-way glass door with wooden panels.
Instead of a wall, the mayor’s office has wood grills. The carpenters also built shelves for the mayor.
Osmeña’s wife, acting Mayor Margot Osmeña, allocated P2 million for furniture and renovation of his office in the 2016 revised annual budget, but this was cut by the four-person City Council who deemed it “unnecessary.”
Councilor James Cuenco, head of the city’s Committee on budget and finance, said there is already “a provision in the budget for the mayor’s office” and “there are more important items to expenditures to spend on.”
In an interview after his oathtaking last Tuesday, Osmeña said he would fund the renovation himself.
The mayor’s office that used to be occupied by Rama on the first floor will be converted into the City Treasurer’s Office.
Adjacent to the office of the mayor’s secretary is an office housing seven volunteers of Mayor Osmeña who are reportedly handling several barangays that are not under the administration Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) camp./USJ-R Intern Dafne N. Wenceslao