Osmeña 'excited' over Rama's libel case

CEBU, Philippines - Rather than be threatened, Cebu City South District Representative Tomas Osmeña said he is more excited on the libel case Mayor Michael Rama has threatened to file against him.

He said he has been waiting for his opponents to file the case so he could prove in court that Councilor Edgardo Labella was lying when the latter said he and the lawyer of Mariano Godinez, the claimant of lot 937 in sitio San Miguel, Barangay Apas, were not law firm partners.

Osmeña said he is in possession of a piece of evidence that proves that Labella and lawyer Roberto Palmares are partners, contrary to Labella’s claim that they are merely sharing an office to save on maintenance cost.

“I am just waiting for them to say the same things in a sworn statement and I will sue him for perjury,” Osmeña said.

He said a friend has given him a court document wherein the signatures of Palmares and Labella are present as counsel and co-counsel to the plaintiff in a case.

“The owner of this case does not want me to release this. But if they finally sue me for libel, I will show this to the court,” Osmeña said.

“This is more than a ground for perjury and disbarment,” he added.

He said he does not want to take the first move but he wants the other party to file the libel case against him first.

“I just want to make fun of them. But these are the things the people should know,” Osmeña said.

Earlier, Osmeña said that Labella who was tasked by Rama to help in the case of the 168 families whose houses are due for demolition on May 7, could not defend the residents because of conflict of interest.

Osmeña said that Labella and Palmares are partners so it is impossible that both have not shared inputs and thoughts about the case.

Rama threatened to sue Osmeña for libel for saying that Labella is a traitor and for telling the mayor that his gesture of intervening in the case of Apas residents is plain ‘showbiz.’

The Apas residents whose houses are due for demolition were given by the court until Monday to vacate the property, but the city government last Friday filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which will be heard today.

Osmeña said he has not spoken with the Solicitor General personally but have started communicating with the office. He admitted that they are running out of time in the case of the Apas residents.

Meanwhile, Osmeña hit Rama anew for saying that Cebuanos who will not vote for Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who will be running for senator are traitors to their fellow Cebuano.

Osmeña said he could no longer take Rama’s hypocrisy because Rama also did not support John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña when the latter ran for the senate in the past.

Osmeña said he will not support Garcia even if she is the only Cebuano seeking for a higher post.

“I don’t need a Senator to get projects for Cebu City. Why would you support someone who wants to destroy the SRP? Don’t you remember? Who is now the traitor?” Osmeña said. —(FREEMAN)