Ex-Cebu allies’ rift escalates into ‘war’

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The rift between erstwhile allies Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña and Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama is turning into a war.

Osmeña on Wednesday sued Rama at the Ombudsman, accusing him of grave misconduct and abuse of authority.

In his six-page complaint, Osmeña accused Rama of ramming down the throats of department heads the city’s 2012 budget of P11.8 billion, the biggest in its history.

The city council, however, found the proposed budget unrealistic and can’t be supported by the city’s projected income. The city has a current budget of P4.453 billion.

Osmeña asked the Ombudsman to order the suspension of Rama to prevent him from harassing department heads and allow the city council, dominated by councilors loyal to Osmeña, to deliberate freely on the proposed budget.

Rama declined to comment saying he hasn’t received a copy of the complaint. He said, however, that he can’t be accused of bullying the city department heads simply because he wasn’t a bully.

He said bully best describes another person whom he did not identify. “I think you know who,” he told reporters.

In his complaint, Osmeña said Rama should be held liable of grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service when he barred department heads from attending a pre-budget hearing last Oct. 26.

The council was forced to cancel the pre-budget hearing because of the no-show of the department heads on orders of Rama.

The budget deliberation was again hampered on Nov. 4 when Rama insisted that Assistant City Treasurer Emma Villarete should face the council and not City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo.

Rama said he had lost confidence in Camarillo after she told councilors in a previous session that the city might have difficulty funding the P11.8-billion budget.

The councilors, however, insisted that Camarillo, not Villarete, should attend the budget hearing since the acting city treasurer was the one who signed the budget proposal.

Last week, Rama issued a memorandum directing Villarete to represent the City Treasurer’s Office in the budget hearings after he asked the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) to replace Camarillo.

But the BLGF in Central Visayas instructed Camarillo to remain in her post pending action from its central office on the validity of Rama’s order.