Rama to present ‘Soca’ in Cebuano in Plaza Sugbo

It’s  all systems go for the July 1 State of the City Address (Soca) of   Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

The mayor will deliver the Soca in Cebuano. The 15-minute speech will be witnessed by up to 8,000 people expected to converge  at the Plaza Sugbo in front of the Cebu City Hall, said City Hall consultant Leonardo Chiu.

Chiu, an independent filmmaker,  helped draft the Soca.

“We intended it to be short and sweet and it shall be rendered in Cebuano so that it could linger in the hearts of the audience,” Chiu said in an interview.

Video clips to illustrate points of Rama’s speech will be shown on screens mounted beside a stage, Chiu said.

Rama said he ordered his staff to invite everyone,  including the members of the City Council and the city’s Congressmen Tomas Osmeña and Cutie del Mar.

“It’s protocol and I want to make sure that… no issue would again come out that I did not invite them,” Rama said.

“All are invited. Everyone. And I hope and it won’t be misconstrued again.”

Rama’s decision to deliver his Soca at the Plaza Sugbo came after the City Council scheduled its inaugural  session on July 6 instead of the traditional July 1.

Director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas  said he sees no problem with the Soca being presented in  the Plaza Sugbo.

There is no guideline in DILG that directs where the Soca should be presented.

“Even in the Cebu Provincial Capitol, Gov. Gwendolyn  Garcia does her State of the Province Address at the Social Hall so there should be no trouble doing it at the Plaza Sugbo just as long as he (Rama) does his Soca,” Noval said.

Meanwhile, Rama said that he is still open to the possibility that the City Council will invite him to its  inaugural session.

“If they invite me after my Soca, then I will have a  shorter version of the Soca there (in the council session hall) too,” he  said. /Correspondent Edison A. Delos Angeles