Rama to hail Tomas O to the Ombudsman over car gifts

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is set to file today a complaint before the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman against Cebu  City Rep.  Tomas Osmeña over  the two Dodge Charger sedans given or  sold to him by an investor.

Rama  is sponsoring a 7:30 a.m. Mass at the Capitol parish church then will walk  one kilometer  to the anti-graft office on  M. Velez Street to file the charge.

The complaint is  prepared by the city legal office, said ally Councilor Jose Daluz III, who confirmed that that the mayor asked him to be present during the filing.

Sought for comment,  Osmeña shrugged off the coming legal action: “It’s just showbiz.”

The case is expected to question the alleged misuse of the Cebu City government seal appearing on one of the cars, a black-and-white look-a-like police car, and the anti-graft law provision against “directly or indirectly” receiving any gift from a person  in connection with a government transaction where the public official has to intervene.

Osmeña said he was confident the case won’t prosper because  the two cars, which the city government used during his term as mayor, belonged to Bigfoot Entertainment owner  Michael Gleissner, a close friend and were sold to private persons, Osmeña’s sister Minnie and son Paulo this year, contrary to allegations that these were  donations to the city government.

Mayor Rama last week challenged the Ombudsman’s Office to investigate the car issue saying he didnt’ want to file a complaint himself to avoid letting it look like a political move.

Visayas Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, in response, said he has started a fact-finding inquiry based on media reports about the car controversy.

Today’s filing of a complaint suggests the mayor was provoked  to file a complaint by other factors.  Last Saturday, Osmeña showed news reporters the white Dodge Charger parked in his residence and said the second one, the look-a-like police car, was in the shop being repainted blue.

A photo of Osmeña showing the white sedan in his garage also showed  a tarp banner hanging beside it with a full-length photo of Mayor Rama in costume with  boots, cape, leggings  and shield dressed as a Spanish soldier.

Some allies in Rama’s camp took offense at the picture.

In a separate interview, Councilor Edgardo Labella, the mayor’s runningmate in 2013, said he was not aware of the case to be filed today in the Ombudsman’s office.

“The mayor doesn’t have to file the  complaint because the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office has the power to investigate it  motu proprio (on his own), and has already taken cognizance of the case based on media reports,” said Labella.

Asked if he was consulted about drafting the complaint, Labella said no and that there were many lawyers in City Hall to do that.

Labella said  news coverage and commentaries about the car issue have fully covered  various aspects to raise in terms of legal violations.

The  cars , according to Osmena, were planned for donation to the Cebu City Police Office, but didn’t push through wen Gleissner learned Osmena’s term as mayor would end in in 2010.

Gleissner’s Bigfoot Entertainment was one of the first big investors to lease property in the 300-hectare South Road Properties. The two US-made cars were previously  used as stunt vehicles in his film shoots, with sirens, blinkers and marked “police” with the seal of Cebu City.

One was repainted white while the other was visible during the funeral cortege of  the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. “There was no intention by (sister) Minnie to keep the police car. The vehicle is now in the shop… Maybe (the change of color) will help address the issue, maybe not. But this was what was originally planned for the vehicles,” Osmeña said in an earlier interview.  /Doris C. Bongcac, Chief of Reporters