CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is simply annoyed by the opinions of Rep. Pastor Alcover and said that the latter does not even deserve any attention.
The mayor said this in reaction to the “political war” declared by the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy, headed by Alcover, against the leadership of Osmeña for allegedly supporting left-leaning groups.
Last February the city awarded Bayan Muna, a militant group.
“I’m irritated by his comments. He’s a self-serving messiah. I don’t even think he deserves an answer,” Osmeña said.
“If he thinks he can threaten me, you can tell him I think he’s a joke. Not what he said but his whole being was a joke. We should all be ashamed of having people like him in the Congress,” the mayor said.
Osmeña said that Alcover’s declaration of an all-out war against his administration was purely political because the latter’s son, Lemar Arnoco Alcover, is running for councilor in the north district under the Kugi Uswag Sugbo, the opposition to the mayor’s Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan.
“I challenge anyone to cite an example of any government official who can stop 5,000 militants marching in the streets. They could have created a trouble but they did not, so what are we supposed to do? Declare war against them?” Osmeña explained in defense of his decision to grant a special award to Bayan Muna during the city’s Charter Day.
He said that the award he gave to Bayan Muna was in recognition for its cooperation with the government during the Association of South East Asian Nation Summit in 2007 where the latter did not stage any rally so as not to disrupt the important convention of the heads of different states in Asia.
“When they did something right, we should acknowledge it. Isn’t that what we did with Akrho? Look at them today, they’re not giving us problems anymore because we reached out to them,” Osmeña said.
He said that the award for Bayan Muna was just delayed because it was only last year that he realized how much help the militants contributed to the success of the ASEAN Summit.
“What really triggered it was when I’ve read what happened in Thailand last year. The militants demonstrated so wildly that the ASEAN summit was cancelled. So it gave me a flashback. Imagine if that happened in Cebu, what a disappointment.”
Osmeña said that he does not need to campaign against Alcover because most of his allies in different barangays in Cebu City are already abandoning ANAD because of Alcover’s comments. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP (FREEMAN NEWS)