Leni to swear in Tomas; Cebu solons switch to PDP-Laban

Vice President-elect Leni Robredo, shown here during a campaign sortie in Dumanjug town, will swear in Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña on June 28. (CDN FILE)

VICE President-elect Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo is scheduled to officiate the oath-taking of Cebu City Mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña at the Cebu City Sports Complex on June 28.

Cebu City Acting Mayor Margot Osmeña told reporters yesterday that her husband personally requested Robredo to officiate the oath-taking.
She said they even adjusted the date so it won’t conflict with her schedule.

“Close man kaayo sila ni Jesse gud (My husband is close with Jesse),” the acting mayor said.

She said her husband sent a plane to help in the search for Robredo’s husband, the late Interior and Local Government secretary Jesse Robredo who went missing after a plane crash in Masbate in 2012.

During the campaign period, Osmeña said her husband helped in the vice president-elect’s campaign.

The ceremony will also be attended by city councilors allied with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).

In Talisay City, Mayor-elect Eduardo Gullas and the rest of the incoming city officials allied with his Alayon Party will take their oath of office before Tapul barangay chairman Mary Ann Nolasco on June 30.

In yesterday’s press conference in his office at the University of the Visayas (UV), Gullas invited Councilor Val Ylanan, who is affiliated with the Liberal Party (LP), to join them in the oath-taking ceremony.

Sought for comment, Ylanan said he sees no problem with the offer though he has yet to talk with Gullas about it.

Ylanan used to be allied with Alayon but left after he was unable to receive a committee chairmanship during the tenure of former mayor Soc Fernandez.

“I have no problem if he goes back to Alayon. In the first place, Val ran with us from the start. I’m willing to take him back. We need everybody to help,” Gullas said.

In a related development, five incoming Cebu legislators took their oaths of office before the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte in a hotel in Makati City yesterday.

Those present were representatives Wilfredo Caminero (2nd district), Gwendolyn Garcia (3rd district), Jonas Cortes (6th district), Peter John Calderon (7th district) and Aileen Radaza (lone district of Lapu-Lapu City).

Davao del Norte 1st district Representative Pantaleon Alvarez, who will assume as House Speaker in Congress, administered the oath taking at the New World Makati Hotel at noon yesterday.

Caminero, who used to be with the Liberal Party (LP), said he decided to shift allegiance after a “thorough discussion” with LP officials.

“We have to support the president. In our district in particular, Duterte won by a landslide. We are bound to support the decision of our constituents,” Caminero told Cebu Daily News.

The oath taking was also witnessed by Michael Dino, incoming presidential assistant for the Visayas, his spokesman and chief of staff Jonji Gonzales said yesterday.