Cebu City Hall takeover by Rama supporters foiled

Mayor Michael Rama —NESTLE SEMILLA

CEBU CITY — Tension rose at City Hall here on Friday after four lawyers and about 100 supporters of dismissed Mayor Michael Rama attempted to take over the mayor’s office, claiming that the former official was the rightful mayor.

Lawyer Collin Rosell, Rama’s city administrator who was among the seven city officials suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman, was later arrested by policemen for usurpation of authority after he refused to leave City Hall around 5 p.m. Rosell earlier issued a memorandum that he was reassuming as city administrator.

Lawyer Santiago Ortiz, city legal officer, told the police that Rosell’s entry into the mayor’s office was unauthorized by the Ombudsman, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia who replaced Rama upon his dismissal from the service.

READ: Tensions high at Cebu City Hall; Rama supporters demand his reinstatement 

Garcia said he had no plans of stepping down unless ordered by either the Ombudsman, the courts or the DILG.

He told reporters that the orders of the Ombudsman and the DILG were “very clear.”

“Unless I get another decision from the courts, the Ombudsman [or] the DILG, that is the only time we will act accordingly. As of now, there is nothing. Everything that we are doing is all legal. It is all above board. There is nothing to talk about,” he said.

Garcia, however, directed the police to exercise maximum tolerance as he allowed protesters to air their grievances but outside City Hall grounds.

Disqualification

The antigraft office ordered a six-month preventive suspension on Rama and seven other city officials pending an investigation on their alleged failure to pay the salaries of at least four employees for seven months.

Rama started serving his six-month preventive suspension on May 10 but before he could fully serve it on Nov. 6, the Ombudsman issued another order on Oct. 3, this time dismissing him from the service for nepotism and grave misconduct for appointing his two brothers-in-law to government posts.

Rama’s dismissal order carried a perpetual disqualification from public service.

But Rama, who is running for reelection, went to the Supreme Court and challenged Comelec Resolution No. 11044-A that mandated the cancellation of all certificates of candidacy of aspirants who have been slapped with a penalty of disqualification by the Ombudsman.

The Supreme Court en banc on Oct. 22 issued a temporary restraining order on the reelection disqualification case against Rama, effectively stopping the Comelec from disqualifying him as a candidate for next year’s elections while the high court reviews his case.