CEBU CITY—President Duterte wants Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña prosecuted for interceding in the arrest of three persons accused of selling refilled butane canisters in the city in August.
In a speech during a private dinner with his allies from Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in Cebu on Tuesday night, the President said he ordered Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to press charges against Osmeña.
“I told Secretary Año that I would file charges against him,” President Duterte said.
Police complaint
The directive was issued despite a complaint that was earlier filed against Osmeña by the Cebu City police for abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official and obstruction of justice in the Office of the Ombudsman in September.
The President’s statements against the mayor were made during the dinner attended by some of Osmeña’s critics and political rivals.
“Nasuko gyud ko kay naa nay preso, iyahang gi adto sa station gikasab-an niya ang police, giparelease niya (I was really angry because the suspects had been detained. He went to the station, reprimanded the police and had the suspects released),” Duterte said.
Osmeña declined to comment on the President’s statements when the Inquirer reached him on Thursday.
The mayor, however, denied the allegations in his nine-page reply to the antigraft office on Oct. 26.
He also dismissed claims of the Cebu police that he reprimanded the policemen for arresting the suspects, saying he demanded that they be released to his custody.
Dismissal
The mayor asked the Ombudsman to dismiss the charges.
Osmeña, in his reply to the Ombudsman, said none of his actions on Aug. 24, as well as the affidavits of the policemen, was enough to prove that he violated the law.
“Respondent states that this complaint is liable to be dismissed at the very outset because the allegations do not contain any averments that would constitute the elements the crime of obstruction of justice,” he said.
No abuse of authority
“There was also nothing in respondent’s actions that indicated misconduct or that he was abusing his authority as city mayor. The truth, he was merely responding to a request for assistance by his constituents who reported to him about the illegal arrest of the vendors and the illegal seizure of butane canisters,” he added. —MOREXETTE ERRAM