Osmeña allies rule barangay group polls

CEBU CITY — The administration party of Mayor Tomas Osmeña has the upper hand in the city council after barangay captains allied with the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) dominated the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) elections last Monday.

Kasambagan Barangay Captain Franklyn Ong was elected ABC president with 51 votes, while his counterpart Mabolo Barangay captain Prisca Niña Mabatid got no votes.

Mabatid and her allies showed up at the venue but they later walked out after questioning the presence of Osmeña in the election.

“This is supposed to be closed-door but why is he here. He (Osmeña) is manipulating the barangay captains,” said Mabatid, who ran as an independent candidate but was supported by opposition party Barug Team Rama-PDB Laban.

Osmeña shrugged off Mabatid’s accusation. “They knew from the very start that they will lose,” he said.

The two camps had traded accusations of vote-buying before to the election.

Other BOPK winners were Labangon barangay captain Victor Buendia as vice president and Pahina Central barangay captain Carlo Yap as auditor.

As ABC president, Ong will sit as an ex-officio member of the city council together with Sangguniang Kabataan (SK)Cebu City President Jessica Resch, who is also allied with BOPK.

With Ong’s victory, BOPK now has nine members in the council, while Team Rama has eight.

Osmeña had been wanting to get the majority of the seats in the council as he accused the opposition of blocking several programs that he want to implement in the city.(Calvin D Cordova with CIT-U Intern Cleo A. Cartagena)