Mayor hits full-page ad of BOPK, calls it ‘pathetic’

This was Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama's reaction to the full-page advertisement of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan's (BOPK) members’ endorsement of Rep. Tomas Osmeña (Cebu City, south district) as the Liberal Party's candidate for mayor in the 2013 elections. The ad saw print on the last page of Sun.Star Cebu’s issue yesterday. “Mura man og ako’y gipasunginlan nibati ang syudad wala pa gani ta kaabot og three years (It's as if they are blaming me for the state of the City when we have not served for three years),” Rama said, laughing off the advertisement during a regular press conference yesterday. The members of the council who signed the letter-endorsement enumerated Osmeña's achievements. Among them is Osmeña's award for most outstanding city mayor of the Philippines in 2002. But former councilor Jocelyn Pesquera reminded BOPK that in 2002, Rama served as acting mayor for the first four months while Osmeña was recuperating from aneurysm. Pesquera also noted that when Asiaweek ranked Cebu City as the eighth in Asia's top cities, this happened during the time of former mayor Alvin Garcia. The cover of Asiaweek was printed along with the letter. It was published on Oct. 25, 1996. Pictures Rama said he is not keen on having his achievements published, but if he were to do so, he would post the before and after pictures of Plaza Independencia, sidewalk of Osmeña Boulevard, Carbon market and the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), with the caption “Intawn, ayaw ibaligya (Please don't sell).” Osmeña has repeatedly said he wanted to sell CCMC because of the many issues hounding the city hospital. While BOPK also claimed to have brought in 70,000 people to the Liberal Party grand rally at the South Road Properties during the 2010 campaign, Pesquera also reminded BOPK of the barangay captains who brought thousands of people to the venue. The barangay captains are Basak San Nicolas’ George Rama, Inayawan's Rustico Ignacio, Sawang Calero's Benjamin Zabate and Busay's Eliodoro Sanchez, as well as former village chief of Suba Jojo Sable. These chiefs are now with Team Rama. Rome trip Mayor Rama will leave today for Rome for the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod on Sunday. This will be a personal trip for Rama who will return to Cebu City on Oct. 25. Yesterday, he gave last-minute orders to some of his officials. He told the Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (Pcac) president officer Eugene Elizalde to take care of Cebu City's peace and order. Rama also told City Administrator Jose Mari Poblete to clean up the Citicenter Complex. The City Government has been doing rescue operations for night dwellers since Monday. The operations include gathering street people and bringing them to the Citicenter to sleep at night and bathe in the morning. Pesquera told reporters that Monday's operation was successful with children prodding their parents to go with the staff from the City Government, so they will have a better place to sleep at night. But Rama wanted Poblete to check the business establishments surrounding the complex. He wanted to make sure nobody is illegally making money out of the business operations in the area