Labella to take oath as new mayor in front of Associate Justice

Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgar Labella. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor-elect Edgardo Labella will be taking his oath as the new mayor of Cebu City in the morning of Sunday, June 30, in front of the 182nd Supreme Court Associate Justice of the Philippines, Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier.

On the same day, the turnover of the city administration will take place at the Mayor’s Office of the City Hall at 2 p.m. in the afternoon.

Labella said that President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, was his first choice of presiding officer during his oath taking but since Duterte-Carpio’s jurisdiction was only limited to her hometown, she could not administer his oath.

Duterte-Carpio, who endorsed Labella for her own party, Hugpong nga Pagbabago, will also not be able to attend Labella’s oath taking because of prior commitments.

The Associate Justice will be administering Labella’s oath, a nod to his being a lawyer and a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

Five days before his oath, taking, Labella is already easing in the department heads of his administration, nine of which he already revealed in a Facebook post.

Read more: Labella taps five lawyers to join his administration

These included Lawyer Floro Casas, Jr. as City Administrator, Lawyer Jerone Castillo as City Treasurer, Lawyer Rey Galeon as City Attorney, Lawyer Mark Salomon as City Budget Officer, Lawyer June Maratas as General Services Officer, Jerome Ornopia as City Accountant, Doctor Daisy Villa as City Health Officer, Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez as City Engineer, and Architect Florante Catalan as Building Official.

Labella said he would be revealing more of his department heads in the next few days.

He also said that not all department heads would be changed.

One of the positions Labella is carefully considering who to put as head is the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) which will play a crucial role in maintaining the city’s traffic.

“We have to go over their backgrounds.We have to appoint people who are not only competent but also people with a reputation of probity,” said Labella.

Read more: Cebu City braces for transition of mayors

The transition team for the turn over of administrations on June 30 are also preparing all the necessary documents that will need to be relinquished to the new administration.

“The incoming and outgoing administrations are expected to meet in the Mayor’s Office to discuss the transition so the new heads can talk to their predecessors on the concerns of their offices,” said Annabeth Cuizon, executive assistant to outgoing Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

The documents will then be reviewed by the new administration in an audit as mandated by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memorandum on smooth transition between administration.

Cuizon said that all documents for transition would be expected to be ready by June 30. /dbs