3 bets for mayor?
Will it be a three-way race for mayor in Cebu City in next year's elections?
Yesterday, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella declared he will run for mayor as standard bearer of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan, which is affiliated locally with Barug Team Rama.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña has said he will seek re-election while former mayor Michael Rama also said he wants to return to City Hall.
Labella said he had to come up with a decision since the opposition's supporters want clarity on the political developments in the city.
"In keeping with what I floated a few days ago, I now declare my intention to seek the mayorship of the City of Cebu in next year's elections. As a former government prosecutor, Ombudsman Director, city councilor, and now vice mayor, I think I can offer to the city's constituents a kind of governance that is accountable, consultative, and ready to listen to the gripes and grievances of even the most ordinary man," Labella said in a press statement.
"If I win, I would endeavor to have a healing and conciliatory mayorship for the best interest of the city. But I would be uncompromising and unbending when it comes to graft and corrupt practices among employees. I will pursue a no-nonsense fight against illegal drugs," he added.
RAMA
Labella hopes only one will run under Barug Team Rama and PDP-Laban and while Rama said he wants to run for office again, he also shares Labella's opinion that only one should run against Osmeña.
"I have made a very clear statement that I'm also running. But the filing of the certificate of candidacy is still in October. That is practically the reason why, I will always be clear, too, that there will only be one who should be running.And that one has to be in a way should stand so that the opponent will not have an easy victory," Rama told The FREEMAN.
Rama hopes he will be the one to run for mayor and Labella will agree to be his running mate, as they would make a "formidable tandem of the rule of law."
Two candidates running against Osmeña would split opposition supporters, both Labella and Rama agree.
Rama said the Barug Team Rama and PDP-Laban will have to be established formally.
REACTIONS
Opposition councilor Jose Daluz III said Labella and Rama continue to talk to each other.
"They have agreed that when the time comes, there will only be one candidate for mayor. It will be either Edgar or Mike. Both leaders must present their program to the supporter and listen to the majority before they finally decide, which is definitely not now yet," Daluz said.
His fellow opposition councilors Joel Garganera, Raymond Alvin Garcia, Eduardo Rama, Renato Osmeña, Jr., and Jocelyn Pesquera agree.
The mayor, meanwhile, is unaffected.
"He (Labella) should run with Rama because together, nothing happened," he told The FREEMAN in a text message.