BARUG STORMS CITY HALL ON FIRST DAY OF CAMPAIGN
OPPOSITION candidates aiming to dislodge the present administration of Cebu City held a handshaking activity while Mayor Tomas Osmeña was on his way to attend mass with his team at a church in Barangay Guadalupe.
Councilor Raymond Garcia of Barug PDP-Laban said the handshaking was done because they intend to get back City Hall by winning the elections.
The group arrived at City Hall around 9:30 a.m. The Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) candidates, for their part, held a mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Barangay Guadalupe, the bailiwick of Osmeña, at 10 a.m.
Garcia said Barug wants to personally woo City Hall employees. The City Hall visit was one of the few stops of Barug’s first day of campaigning.
The group attended an early morning mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral followed by a handshaking in Barangays Ermita and Pasil.
Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, who is the standard bearer of the group, said they chose to proceed to Ermita in honor of the late barangay captain Felicisimo “Imok” Rupinta. They proceeded to Barangay Pasil for the handshaking.
In Guadalupe, Osmeña led his group along with Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos, who is his running mate. They also held a handshaking in Barangay Guadalupe after the mass. The whole BOPK slate will be formally introduced to the public on Saturday, March 30, in a proclamation rally at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Meanwhile, the two village chieftains whose government-issued vehicles were recalled following Osmeña’s order, decried the latter’s actions as “politicking.”
Pamutan Barangay Captain Ronald Labitad and Cambinocot Barangay Captain Rey Lauron both said they were not convinced that politics was not involved when the vehicles, which were returned Friday morning, is now under the jurisdiction of the Barangay Mayor’s Office (BMO).
Labitad said it would have been believable had the vehicles been returned to their care.
“(Department of General Services head) Ronald Malacora says politics is not involved here, and I would have believed him. But unfortunately the school bus that they took was returned but was placed under the BMO,” Labitad said.
Lauron is seeking a councilor seat in the north district of Cebu City under Barug PDP-Laban.
The minibus in Pamutan was replaced with another minibus, which is now assigned to former councilor Tessia Ebonala, while in Cambinocot, the vehicles are now under the supervision of Councilor Nila Bihag. The two village chiefs no longer have authority over the use of the vehicles.