Rama's SOCA at Plaza Sugbo

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will deliver his State of the City Address (SOCA) on Monday at the Plaza Sugbo.

This will be the second time that the mayor will deliver his inaugural address outside the City Council Session Hall after breaking out with his former allies in the council.

Rama and most of the members of the council are not in good terms after the mayor bolted out from the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.

Last year, Rama was not invited to deliver his inaugural address during the council session. The mayor has yet to submit a final list of his special guests, but among those invited are the barangay officials, the senior citizens, organized groups and other groups from different sectors.

Earlier, he said that like last year, he will invite Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

The SOCA will be open to the public.

His speech will be in mixed Cebuano and English. Last year’s SOCA of the mayor took more than an hour.

In his speech, Rama is set to report his accomplishments, future plans and with special mention to the status of the South Road Properties.

The SOCA proper will be at 4 p.m., but the event will start with a mass at 2 p.m. to be followed by the soft opening and blessing of the senior citizens park and the blessing of the newly purchased heavy equipment for the engineering department.

The senior citizens park is located right across the Cebu City Hall facing the coast.

It used to be a cluster of warehouses that the Mayor requested from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to be demolished due to the danger that the structure is posing to the illegal occupants.

DENR, which owns the property and the building, agreed to demolish the structure for public safety.

The city government then asked the DENR’s permission to convert the area into a senior citizen’s park. The park is located beside the over 50-year old Gotiaco Building which will soon be developed into a Chinese Heritage Museum and overlooking the Compaña Maritima and the sea. (FREEMAN)