‘Illegal’ v-hire terminal: Osmeña wants case dismissed

CEBU, Philippines - Citing lack of substantial evidence, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has asked the Office of the President to dismiss the case filed against him by Team Rama councilors over the alleged illegal operation of a van-for-hire terminal in Barangay Kamagayan.

Osmeña, in his 10-page verified answer, contended that the terminal’s operation is only temporary as the city is still searching for a permanent spot.

But when reached for comment, City Councilor James Anthony Cuenco said Osmeña’s reply to the complaint is “pathetic.”

“How can the operation of the terminal be considered temporary when it has already been run for over nine months now? But that’s irrelevant.

The mere act of allowing the terminal to operate in Kamagayan, whether temporary or permanent, is already illegal in itself,” Cuenco said.

Cuenco and Councilor Pastor Jun Alcover, who filed the case against the mayor before the Office of the President, earlier said the terminal violates an existing city ordinance.

Under City Ordinance 1958, a terminal should not be located within a 300-meter radius from a block that includes the central downtown area.

The complainants also alleged that the terminal is being operated without a lease contract or a memorandum of agreement.

For these reasons, Cuenco and Alcover accused Osmeña of committing grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, and usurpation of authority.

Osmeña, however, argued that City Ordinance 1958 is not applicable in this case since the operation that he allowed is not permanent in character.

He said permanent station or location of a terminal is the one being subjected to the provisions of the ordinance.

He also said he did not issue any accreditation or certification to establish the “temporary” terminal since it sits on a city-owned property, which was initially used as a parking space.

He said he was constrained to allow the V-hire drivers to use the area for the convenience of the commuting public.

“In view of the existing circumstances, it would be highly absurd for the city to enter into a memorandum of agreement with itself simply to be able to use the city-owned parking area in Kamagayan,” Osmeña’s verified answer read.

Osmeña likewise said the problem on the lack of terminal for south-bound V-hires came about only after the administration of former mayor Michael Rama ordered in 2015 the closure of what Osmeña called as the original terminal – the One Citilink terminal along Natalio Bacalso Avenue.

After the closure, the V-hire station was transferred to Compania Maritima, to South Road Properties, to Taboan Public Market, and to where it is now in Barangay Kamagayan.

“It should be noted that all these transfers were made by former mayor Rama without any accreditation from the Sangguniang Panlungsod,” Osmeña said.

Yet members of the City Council did not file complaint against Rama during these transfers, he added.

Granting that there exists a terminal in Kamagayan, the mayor said its operation is just provisional while the city government conducts a “study as to its viability and feasibility.”

Furthermore, Osmeña said the City Ordinance 1958 categorically provides that all persons operating a terminal for V-hires or public utility jeepneys in the city are mandated to submit application for accreditation.

He said that since he is not a terminal operator, then he is not covered by the ordinance’s provisions.

“The respondent (Osmeña) simply allowed for the V-hire drivers to use the city-owned parking area but not for the establishment of an actual and permanent terminal,” he said.

The mayor said the joint affidavit complaint is supported by “mere opinions, suppositions, and baseless conclusions.”

Osmeña said Cuenco and Alcover just “attempted to politically harass” him.

“Apparently, this action taken by complainants is their last-ditch effort to try and regain political control over the city government, especially considering the fact that some of complainants’ political allies have now started to support the respondent in his vision for the City Government of Cebu,” the answer read.

This is the second complaint against Osmeña in relation to the alleged illegal operation of the V-hire terminal.

Last March, City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, also of Team Rama, also sued the mayor over the same issue before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Aside from the terminal case, Osmeña is also facing three more complaints before the Office of the President.

Anecito Canturias, regional head of the United Nationalist Alliance and former chief of the Cebu City Investment Promotions Center during the time of former mayor Michael Rama, filed the first complaint in August last year in connection with Osmeña’s appointment of two acting mayors when he went on a vacation leave.

February this year, Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman also lodged an administrative complaint against the mayor and his wife, Councilor Margot Osmeña, over the reopening of the Inayawan sanitary landfill.

Ayuman then followed it up with another case, charging Osmeña of owning two units of Dodge Charger vehicles donated by Bigfoot Global Solution to the city government. —/JMD (FREEMAN)