Will the Ombudsman suspend Mayor Osmeña?
Before I write this article, allow me to honor the memory of my mentor, the late Philippine STAR Publisher Maximo V. Soliven who was born on September 4, 1929 and therefore would have been 89 years old today. Sir Max and I met when he was our speaker at the Cebu Rotary Club in 1985 and later our speaker at the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc. when he got me as his “alikabok” to ensure that what he writes about Cebu was legit and truthful. The rest as you know is history.
It was on August 4, 1987 when the late Juanito Jabat asked me to write for The FREEMAN, which was my first column, which makes me a 31-year veteran in Cebu journalism. Sir Max loved that I became a local columnist and when he felt that I was ready for the Philippine STAR two years later, he asked me to write for them. So in a way, I’m a 30-year veteran as a journalist in a national newspaper. But before I started writing columns, the late Cerge M. Remonde asked me to join his radio program called People’s Economic Council for an hour once a week.
Then in 2000 Angie Verdan, then of Cebu Cable and SkyCable, asked me for a TV show, which Sir Max called Straight from the Sky. Yes, it was Sir Max who called my column “Shooting Straight” as he knew then that I was an expert in handgun shooting. Twelve years ago, we lost Sir Max (he also had a kidney transplant two years before he died) after he succumbed to heart failure when he was in Tokyo. It was a 20-year friendship that I continue to treasure even today.
Two years before he died, Sir Max spent his birthday here in Cebu at the City Sports Club with a few close friends. This is how many people felt that Sir Max really cared for his friends that he would spend his birthday with his Cebuano friends. So may I request the pious reader to please pray for the repose of his soul.
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The big news last Friday in The FREEMAN was entitled: “Duterte blasts Tomas” which was about the speech by the president against Mayor Tomas Osmeña. But few people noticed the lesser news below this headline, which was entitled: “Police sue Osmeña before Ombudsman”. Apparently, the Cebu City Police Office filed a case of obstruction of justice, grave abuse of authority, misconduct, and violation of ethical standards for government employees when the mayor took custody of three men police had arrested in Parian for operating a butane canister refilling business.
Frankly speaking, I too didn’t know that refilling butane is an illegal business. However, Osmeña should tell us why he went to the Parian Police Station to take custody of the three men arrested by the police. Many radio commentators have claimed that the three men were partners or employees of a business where his son, Miguel, was involved.
In an earlier statement, Osmeña said that he released the three men because they were arrested on Friday and would have languished in prison for three full days, as Monday was a holiday. Apparently this wasn’t really the entire truth, but before we lambast the mayor, we are giving him a chance to change his story…unless he sticks to this obvious lie.
Pundits are already predicting that the case filed by the police before the Office of the Ombudsman is more than enough to have Mayor Osmeña suspended before the 2019 elections. So will this happen? If it does, the recentlyannounced official tandem of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and Vice Mayoralty candidate Michael Rama will certainly benefit from his suspension. Call it what you want, but this is what the Liberal Party did when they suspended then Governor Gwen Garcia during the elections.
Now that the 2019 elections are less than a year away I am glad that former mayor Michael Rama has decided to run for vice mayor and let Vice Mayor Edgar Labella run for mayor against Mayor Osmeña. I already checked out many sources and Rama’s decision gives credibility to Team Rama who is also the PDP-Laban Party in Cebu City. So this campaign can start without issues anymore.
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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@gmail. com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.