Mary Ann’s 'suffering' is self-inflicted – Tom Osmeña

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña lambasted once again Lahug barangay captain Mary Ann delos Santos for repeatedly complaining that the city government is not helping her barangay.

“She can scream persecution for all she wants, but it’s actually self-inflicted,” Osmeña said, pointing out that it is Delos Santos, herself, who has never attended any meeting of the Association of Barangay Councils for the last eight years.

Getting back at the mayor, De los Santos branded him as “having no conscience at all, who loves watching over 50,000 Lahug residents spread in 44 sitios go miserable.”

“This is a continuing saga between David and Goliath. Anything that is associated with Mary Ann delos Santos, gone miserable, makes him happy,” the barangay chief said.

To recall, the Cebu City Health Office noted that despite the fact that Lahug was listed in the top 10 city barangays with the highest incidence of dengue cases, it was not included on the list referred to by the City Hall for spraying measures.

“If that is the marching order of the mayor, so what else is new? But as far as we are concerned, our drive against dengue is continuous and we do cleanliness drive every week,” delos Santos said.

The mayor, however, said that based on his record, Lahug, which is one of the biggest barangays in the city, was not included in the top 10 with most number of dengue cases. He said it was on the 34th spot among the 80 barangays of the city.

“She enjoys bragging that the city is not helping her barangay. That’s the worst kind of barangay captain. Anyway, I don’t care whether she coordinates or not. As far as the city is concerned, we are doing well with the dengue drive,” the mayor said.

In fact, he said yesterday, that there is only one dengue case recorded from August 1 to 9, compared to the 352 dengue cases reported August of last year. – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/MEEV