IF ABELLA, TUMULAK STAY INDEPENDENT, TEAM RAMA KEEPS COUNCIL MAJORITY

Team Rama says they are still the majority in the Cebu City Council. If Councilors Nendell Hanz Abella and Dave Tumulak stay as independent as they have claimed, the team said they still hold control over the council. This was majority floor leader Councilor James Anthony Cuenco’s lament following the defection of Councilor Jerry Guardo to administration party BOPK. “As of now, as it stands, there will be officially eight Team Rama members and seven Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) members because the two have not yet declared themselves as BOPK members. The standing right now will be 8-7-2,” Cuenco said yesterday.

Team Rama is still the majority bloc in the Cebu City Council.

That is if Councilors Nendell Hanz Abella and Dave Tumulak stay true to their earlier pronouncements that they are “independent.”

This is the lament of majority floor leader Councilor James Anthony Cuenco following the departure of suspended Councilor Jerry Guardo from the group to join the administration.

“As of now, as it stands, there will be officially, eight Team Rama members and seven Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) members because the two have not yet declared themselves as BOPK members. The standing right now will be 8-7-2,” he said yesterday.

Cuenco then challenged Tumulak and Abella to once and for all, clear out everything as the administration has already claimed now being the majority, with Guardo severing ties with Team Rama.

“For now, I maintain that Team Rama is still in the majority. But as far as we are concerned, the two other councilors have said that they are independent,” he said.

But when asked if he was already with BOPK, Tumulak, who was also present at Guardo’s press conference last Saturday, gave reporters a nod.

Abella, who is in Manila for a lawyer’s convention, for his part, maintained that he will remain “independent” and that he is keeping his options open.

He, however, admitted having received invitations from BOPK to “join their family.”

Split

This would then mean that at present, BOPK has eight councilors, including Margarita Osmeña, Sisinio Andales, Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Joy Augustus Young, Alvin Arcilla, Mary Ann delos Santos, Guardo and Tumulak.

Team Rama, on the other hand, also has eight councilors: Pastor Alcover, Jose Daluz III, Eduardo Rama, Raymond Garcia, Joy Pesquera, Philip Zafra, Joel Garganera and Cuenco. Councilors Delos Santos, Tumulak and Abella used to be with Team Rama, but bolted from the group.

With this shift in the council, Cuenco said that a “grand plan” may be involved to turn the tables in favor of the administration.

He explained that when Guardo’s suspension was served Monday last week, the latter was at the law office of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella to discuss what legal remedies he could avail of.

“We were working on the case the whole day to have him reinstated. We were privy of his suspension and yet it’s ironic to have him shift alliance,” Cuenco said.

The odds of keeping the majority floor may be short, but former mayor Michael Rama said that Guardo’s departure is not a loss to the group.

Flanked by 15 of his 68 allied barangay captains, Rama, in a press conference yesterday, pointed out that Team Rama welcomes the new development as a “positive room for growth.”

“We lose one, we can always add four more. Also, we have now picked the men from the boys, the flowers from the thorns. If he’s out, he’s out. Politics has always been a tale of the unexpected,” he said.

He clarified that Team Rama has no plans of wooing back its former members.

He added that prior to Guardo’s departure, the latter met with him for a chat, but did not disclose what they’ve discussed. /