BOPK councilors dominate Cebu City council

CEBU, Philippines — Even with the defeat of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) vice mayoral bet Mary Ann de los Santos, the Cebu City council will still be dominated by BOPK allied councilors.

The composition of the city council come noontime of June 30 will be 11-7 in favor of BOPK.

There are six elected councilors from BOPK in the north district, namely, Nestor Archival, Lea Japson, Joy Augustus Young, Sisinio Andales, Alvin Arcilla and Alvin Dizon.

For the south district, there are three BOPK councilors – David Tumulak, Eugenio Gabuya Jr. and Raul Alcoseba.

These newly-elected and reelected legislators will sit along with the two ex-officio members in the council who are Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) Cebu City Chapter president Franklyn Ong and

Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president Jessica Resch.

Partido-Barug PDP Laban is composed of newly elected councilors Donaldo Hontiveros, Antonio Cuenco, Phillip Zafra, Prisca Niña Mabatid along with reelected councilors Renato Osmeña Jr., Raymond Alvin

Garcia and Eduardo Rama Jr.

Andales who is among of the reelected councilors affiliated with BOPK said since they are in the majority bloc, they will be heading all the standing committees.

But he is open to the possibility to give memberships to Partido-Barug PDP Laban councilors. After the proclamation yesterday, BOPK will discuss chairmanships and memberships in the City Council.

“Ang ato ana is ang majority party is BOPK as far as City Council is concerned, so we will be controlling the chairmanship and membership of the different committees...Will give them some memberships, not

chairmanships,” Andales told reporters.

At present, BOPK got the majority bloc having 10 seats while Partido-Barug PDP Laban has eight seats. All chairmanships are being handled by the administration allied councilors.

But Andales admitted that he is not confident that the other members will not shift party affiliations considering that turn coating is normal in politics.

In a separate interview, vice mayor-elect Michael Rama said whoever dominates the council is not an issue as he is going to support any legislation that will protect the interest of the public.

“We only want to tell the council, forget about politics. What is so important now is the desire of the majority, greater good for the greater number. Let the City of Cebu constituency be served first

before us serving ourselves,” he said.

Archival, who is the first elected councilor in the north district, wants to present legislations over environmental matters, specifically on garbage disposal and water conservation.

He thanked Cebuanos for their support as he returned in the political arena for the 2019-2020 term.

For the south district, Hontiveros vowed to devote his time in public service and playing basketball would be his last priority.

He said he wants to go back to the barangays in order to identify the common needs and issues in the grassroots level.

“I’ll be coordinating with mga SK officials kung unsa pa ang kailangan i-improve. Dili ka kaingon nga gamay sila og responsibilities kay SK ra. They are our next leaders and I’m sure they are capable of helping us kung unsa gyud ang mahimo namo,” Hontiveros added.

Partido-Barug PDP Laban got the two top positions in the city government.

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella defeated Mayor Tomas Osmeña in the mayoralty race and Rama won against councilor De los Santos.  — MBG (FREEMAN)