Tom: Why not file case vs Rama, too?
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has accused Team Rama councilors of being selective for filing a complaint against him over a V-hire terminal's operation in Barangay Kamagayan and not pursuing a case against former mayor Michael Rama who allowed the use of Compania Maritima for the same purpose.
V-hire drivers originally used One Citilink Terminal on N. Bacalso Avenue but it was ordered closed by Rama in 2015 over the management's alleged failure to secure final mayor's permit and failure to settle its obligation with the city amounting P12.8 million.
After that, the V-hire terminal was moved to the Compania Maritima grounds, then to South Road Properties, to Taboan Public Market, and finally to where it is now in Kamagayan.
“I wonder where the Team Rama members were when this happened… They have no right to lecture me when they themselves ignored the law,” the mayor said.
Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, who lodged the complaint against Osmeña before the Office of the Ombudsman, said the mayor should sue the previous administration.
Garcia said that as a new council member, he was not part of the City Council yet during the previous administration.
“You have here a mayor who says he is anti-corruption and anti-graft, going after people who are not following the law…the SM, BDO, and he himself now is not following the law?” Garcia said.
But Osmeña threw the same question to Garcia, saying he is also wondering why Team Rama members are not “complaining” why BDO branches are allegedly under-declaring their taxes.
“In December, we collected P446,000 in one month from these V-hires while the 24 branches of BDO paid P408,000 business taxes for the entire year of 2015,” he said.
“Now, what do they want to do? Close the terminal? I want to close BDO. Makasave pa ta'g kwarta,” he added.
AMENDMENT
Osmeña said he is eyeing to push for the amendment of City Ordinance 1958, which regulates the establishment and operation of terminals for public utility jeepneys and V-hire vehicles in the city.
One of the provisions of that city ordinance Osmeña wants to amend is the prohibition of the ordinance to establish a terminal within 300-meter radius from a block that includes the central downtown area.
The mayor said he is still in the process of finding a place for V-hire drivers and operators as Kamagayan terminal is just a “test” case.
“They are just playing politics, plain and simple. Mike Rama has been mayor for six years, yet there isn't a single accredited V-hire station. He closed the legitimate one, it was from BOPK, and he transferred it to SM, which is not credited either and he transferred it to Club Ultima, which is not credited either,” he said.
“So I put them in a present location as an experiment, and it seems like it's working. What are we trying to do? We are trying to help people who work in Cebu City so that they don't have to squat here. It's as simple as that.”
In his criminal complaint against Osmeña, Garcia alleged that the mayor and City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo violated the provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for allowing the operation of the “illegal” Kamagayan terminal.
Garcia said Osmeña “persuaded, induced, and influenced” Camarillo to be complicit in the “illegal activity” as the City Treasurer's Office has collected P1.26 million from the “miscellaneous fees” since November to February.