Cebu City mayor leaves LP

CEBU CITY—Mayor Mike Rama has severed ties with the Liberal Party (LP) after it chose to field his rival, Rep. Tomas Osmeña (south district), against him in next year’s midterm polls.

Rama, however, said he would continue to support the Aquino administration.

The mayor was reacting of the INQUIRER.net story that quoted Joey Salgado, spokesperson of Vice President Jejomar Binay, as saying that Rama would run under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). But Rama told the Inquirer in a phone interview that he would become an independent candidate,

Rama was part of Osmeña’s party, Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), for 19 years until he decided to bolt out in 2010 following a public spat with the party head.

The mayor, however, was just stunned when Osmeña announced that the LP had given him a certificate of nomination in time for the filing of a certificate of candidacy on Oct. 1-5. The lawmaker also said the party had given him authority to issue certificates of nomination for vice mayoral and councilor positions.

Ironically, Osmeña is not an LP member although he and the rest of the BOPK campaigned for Aquino and his running mate, Mar Roxas, in the 2010 presidential polls.

Among the BOPK members, only Rama took his oath before the LP.

In an interview on Sunday, Rama declined to confirm or deny Salgado’s statement that he would be running under the UNA. But the mayor confirmed that he and Binay met on Saturday during the wedding of Ernest Herrera, a son of former Sen. Ernesto Herrera. He declined to divulge what he and Binay discussed. Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas