Cebu City mayor won’t resign despite ailments

Mayor Edgardo Labella. (CDN FILE PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

CEBU CITY—Despite his health condition, Mayor Edgardo Labella wants to complete his term in July 2022.

“He won’t resign because, according to him, he still has a lot of people to help, and we, his immediate family, would always support him,” said his son

Jaypee, who was with his brother, Eugene, and mother Joy, in the press conference Tuesday, Nov. 2, at the City Hall.

The 71-year-old mayor was taken to a private hospital on Oct. 30 due to pneumonia.

Labella has been on indefinite leave since Oct. 8 due to his medical condition.

Eugene confirmed reports that his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago but was cleared of cancer when he ran in 2019.

Labella’s health, however, deteriorated while fighting COVID-19.

“He (Labella) was a neophyte mayor, and when the pandemic happened, he worked nonstop. We believed that it caused his ailment,” Eugene said.

It was the first time that Labella’s family came out in the open to inform the public about the mayor’s medical condition.

Labella first took a medical leave in January 2021 after he got an ear infection.

Four months later, he took a three-day leave after confinement to a  hospital for “slight pneumonia.”

The following month, Labella took another leave for three weeks to fully recover from sepsis.

In July, he took a three-day leave because of a persistent cough and extended it to August.

The mayor then took a six-day personal leave from Sept. 2 to 7 and another leave of absence from Sept. 20 to Oct. 7, which became an indefinite leave from Oct. 8.

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