Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña holds his first press conference at his newly renovated office at 8+th floor of City Hall’s Executive Building. (CDN PHOTO/NESTLE SEMILLA)
EXPECT major changes at the Cebu City Hall now that Mayor Tomas Osmeña has taken over the helm, and these would include the six winning Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) councilors acting as “deputy mayors.”
On his first day as newly-elected mayor, Osmeña announced that BO-PK Councilors Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, Eugenio Gabuya, Joy Augustus Young, Sisinio Andales, Mary Ann delos Santos and Alvin Arcilla will be performing executive functions on top of their work as legislators.
As deputy mayors, the BO-PK councilors will be given blanket authority to review all resolutions or ordinances passed by the city council before these are given to the mayor.
“For example, Mary Ann (delos Santos) is in charge of health. If the council says they will pass a resolution of this and that, before I even read it, it goes through Mary Ann. And if she says no, it’s no. Finish, end of story,” Tomas said.
“We have a council that is dominated by the other group (Team Rama) and on our side, we have six councilors. So I’m making all six councilors deputy mayors. So their rank is actually higher than a councilor. Because if the councilor passes anything, it has to go through the deputy mayor,” he said.
Tomas appointed his wife, Margot, as deputy mayor for Finance, Tourism and Social Services; Gabuya as deputy mayor for Games and Sports, Youth, PAGCOR Funds, Urban Poor and Housing; Young for Education and Scholarship; Andales for Peace and Order and Labor; Arcilla for Market, Agriculture and Infrastructure; and delos Santos as deputy mayor for Health Services who will be in charge of matters concerning the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), Guba Hospital and the Cebu City Health Office.
According to Tomas, these councilors will serve as his “alter ego” complete with executive powers.
Team Rama councilors, who dominate the council, can chair or head a council committee, but the BO-PK councilors will not care because they are all deputy mayor, Tomas said.
“It works like this. I will not sign it without their initials. When I get something from them, it needs to have their initial. Way initial labay basura (without intitial, throw in the trash can) or veto,” he said.
Sought for comment, Cebu City Council majority floor leader James Anthony Cuenco said that he respects the mayor’s prerogative to appoint deputies.
“We (Team Rama) decided on committee assignments a week ago, I’m guessing there was a leak.,” Cuenco added.
Meanwhile, Margot told reporters that BO-PK councilors have informed Cuenco in a meeting yesterday that they will not accept appointments for any committee chairmanships or memberships.
In a text message to CDN, Cuenco said, “Yes they told me about it. It’s just as well because our group never intended to give them any.
For his part, newly elected Councilor Team Rama’s Joel Garganera said that designating councilors to do executive functions is not new to Tomas.
In a text message to CDN Garganera said in jest, “So if they won’t accept committee chairmanships, then we in Team Rama will not also accept executive functions. That makes it even. Hahaha!”