Death threat nonsense, Tomas says
WHILE dismissing reports of a death threat allegedly issued by a family with ties to the Abu Sayaff against Mayor Michael Rama, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said he won’t discount the possibility of his successor being shot.
“That’s a fake death threat. But maybe someday someone will shoot him if he treats people like that but not the Abu Sayaff,” Osmeña said.
The death threat stemmed from the mayor’s insistence to proceed with the clearing operations in Mahiga Creek.
The former mayor said he finds it “ridiculous” and hard to believe that the threat relayed in a letter sent to the mayor’s office came from the Abu Sayaff.
Osmeña said the Abu Sayaff were not crusaders for the poor.
He said the threat would have been more credible if it came from the New People’s Army (NPA), which involves itself in land tenure disputes. “There is clear frustration in the guy (letter-sender). But who will not be frustrated?” Osmeña said.
He said issues on housing like the Mahiga Creek demolition and the 93-1 concerns create unrest. “It is aggravated when somebody dies,” he said.
Osmeña chided Rama for not spending money for financial aid to settlers while paying P20 million to renovate the mayor’s office and allocating P5 million for Christmas lights, which the Commission on Audit (COA) later questioned.
“I’m just trying to tell you the facts. It’s for the people to draw their own conclusion,” he said.
At the Mahiga Creek, former Akbayan partylist representative Riza Hontiveros-Bacquerel said the city government’s failure to provide a relocation constitutes a violation of human rights.
Hontiveros, who met with settlers of San Isidro II in barangay Mabolo, said she heard about their plight from Councilor Alvin Dizon.
She said the rights of the settlers were violated with the demolition of their homes without a relocation site.
The city government is reviewing potential relocation sites for the Mahiga Creek settlers such as sitio St. Michael in barangay Talamban, a hinterland village.
