Ex-Cebu mayor Osmena “sore loser” – DILG exec

June 30, 2019

The Department of Interior and Local Government on Sunday called former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena a “sore loser” for removing all the equipment, including the fixtures of the Mayor's Office, when he vacated the place.

“This is the first time I heard this kind of situation like from Mayor Osmena. He looks like a sore loser. It’s too much… maybe he was also the one who removed the tiles,” Interior Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing III said in a radio interview.

Densing said even before the campaign for the midterm polls last May, they already informed all local officials that they would create transition teams that would account all their properties.

“Both immovable and removable are included in the accountabilities, the contracts need to be preserved and they are required to have a turnover ceremony… the incoming administration should have a briefing,” he said.

“Mayor Osmena should have done that because even if he is not in service (anymore), the government of Cebu City can make him liable, especially those (that he removed) are government properties,” he added.

Densing said Osmena could be held administratively liable for removing all the office’s fixtures, including tiles and dividers, leaving the incoming mayor with nothing.

“I think this could result into administrative issues, it could even reach the Ombudsman if the damage is big,” he said.

The undersecretary said he does not believe the reason of Osmena that he used his own money in renovating the entire Mayor's Office during his stint as the local chief executive.

“I don't think it’s his personal money. That’s the money of the city government of Cebu,” he said.

In case he really used his own money, Densing said it would be the transition team that would identify what his properties were and what the city government owned.

He added that based on the rule of thumb, if the property is owned by the government, the funds used to renovate the place come from the government as well.

“There is no setup like that because everything you will do inside the city government will undergo bidding procedures. So if you will bring your own personal things inside, the city or municipal government cannot just buy it for that matter because there is a procedure in purchasing properties,” he said.

Incoming mayor Edgar Labella was surprised to find out what happened to the Mayor's Office located at the 8th floor of the City Hall after Osmena left it with nothing.

Osmena’s camp said it was the former mayor who spent for the repair of the office and he deserved the right to clear it as he stepped down. It would be up to Osmena's successor to fix it the way he wanted, it said.

Meanwhile, the camp of Labella said they will investigate the incident as they were not informed by the former mayor. Ella Dionisio/DMS