Former Cordova mayor now Tom's consultant

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Tomas Osmeña is bent on closer ties with Cordova town for his Big Brother Program and has even hired former town mayor Arleigh Jay Sitoy as his consultant to recommend whatever moves Cebu City can give to the island town.

The Cebu City Council already gave the mayor authority to sign a consultancy contract with Sitoy, who is a close friend of Osmeña, with a monthly compensation of P18,000.

Osmeña want the fourth-class municipality located in the southern tip of Mactan Island to be one of the beneficiaries in the city’s Big Brother Program where Cebu City is planning to provide any kind of assistance to the municipality.

Councilor Hilario Davide III said as a former mayor of Cordova for three terms the 51-year-old Sitoy would be the best person to advice the Office of the Mayor on how best the city can assist the town.

One of Sitoy’s tasks is also to coordinate and facilitate the delivery of such services to the residents of Cordova.

Sitoy became close to Osmeña while both of them studied at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City. Sitoy took up Bachelor of Science in Agriculture while Osmeña studied and attained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Agro-Economics.

Osmeña said he is already determined to give financial assistance to the senior citizens in Cordova despite of the criticism of Cebu City south district congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo.

The mayor is also very much eager for the island town to become part of Cebu City if the move to turn Lapu-Lapu City into another political district will be realized.

Cordova town and Cebu City are just neighbors considering that Cordova’s territorial jurisdiction is just located across Carbon Market in barangay Ermita, the former “Shell Island,” although they are separated by the sea.

Some legal experts said the law provides that after the enactment of the Local Government Code in 1991, all areas that will be made part of a political district should be contiguous, meaning they are not separated by a body of water. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)