Cuenco caused me embarrassment - Tom

CEBU – The word war between Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and South district Rep. Antonio Cuenco rages on.

Yesterday, Osmeña said how ironic it is Cuenco, who is against the sale of the Cebu City Medical Center, has such compassion for the sick but the legislator’s “T and T program” was scuttled due to corruption through the use of alleged fictitious patients.

“This caused me undue embarrassment because the T and T stood for Tony and Tommy,” the mayor told The FREEMAN yesterday.

Osmeña could not help but compare the program with that of Cebu City North district Rep. Raul Del Mar’s own health program, which has never been questioned by the Commission on Audit.

“These are just one of the many reasons I would rather not deal with him (Cuenco),” the mayor said.

Osmeña reacted to the statement made earlier by Cuenco that he is not in favor of the mayor’s plan to sell CCMC because the poor and indigent patients have nowhere to go as they cannot afford the expensive services offered by private hospitals.

As this developed, Cuenco expressed concern that the conflict between him and Osmeña may affect the people in the south district.

“I don’t want my barangay captains be caught in the crossfire,” Cuenco told The FREEMAN in another interview.

Now that he got the mayor’s ire, the congressman said the barangay captains in his district who are also supporters of the mayor may suffer because of their ongoing dispute.

Cuenco said he is not bothered by his misunderstanding with the mayor as he no longer plans to seek a government position after he finished his last term as congressman in 2010 as he will join the Foreign Service as an ambassador.

“Pero maluoy ko sa mga kapitan kay basin apilon sa mayor sa iyang kalagot nako,” Cuenco said.

But Osmeña said whether or not their conflict will affect the south district barangays, “that depends.”

Osmeña has earlier announced he no longer welcomes Cuenco in Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan, a political group the mayor founded when he was still starting his political career.

The legislator reportedly earned the ire of the mayor when he left for the United States at the height of the campaign for barangay elections last year and did not help the BO-PK-allied barangay captains in their campaign.

After that, the two had not talked again personally and Cuenco was never invited in any activity or gathering of the BO-PK.

The war between the two started when Cuenco recently announced his plan to file a separate bill in Congress for the splitting of barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City into two because some parts of the barangay are allegedly not given enough attention by the barangay officials.

Osmeña has accused Cuenco of “doing the right thing for the wrong reason,” an allegation that was strongly denied by the legislator, who contended that it has been the clamor of the people in barangay Guadalupe. —Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/WAB (THE FREEMAN)