The brewing trouble between two LP mayors

The habal-habal driver in Clarin, Bohol, who tipped the police of the whereabouts of the Abu Sayyaf Group is richer today. By how much? Unfortunately it is classified information, according to Major General Oscar Lactao, Commander of the Philippine Army's Central Command, who personally turned over the reward to the tipster.

It was a long weekend that we had because of Labor Day. Here in Cebu, our resorts enjoyed a brisk business from the domestic tourists, but I heard that tourists were still avoiding Bohol. Also here in Cebu, we learned that many tourists who usually go on what we call a "day tour" of Bohol without staying overnight there, cancelled their visit to wait for better times. Again I would like to emphasize that the military must work harder to find the last three remaining ASG men before they can say that Bohol is now safe from these terrorists.

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The FREEMAN's headline yesterday was quite sensational. It blared, "Esgana: Tomas threatened me!" Apparently Bantayan, Sta. Fe Mayor Jose Esgana met with Mayor Tomas Osmeña at the Marriott Hotel last Saturday. In that report, Mayor Osmeña was with Mr. Alex Tan, owner of Island Shipping that plies the Hagnaya-Sta. Fe route. That incident happened when the League of Municipalities of the Philippines had its meeting in Cebu. Incidentally both of them belong to the Liberal Party (LP).

I know Mayor Osmeña well enough to say that he is not the threatening kind, unless he was provoked by a previous incident. Apparently as the report goes, that previous incident was when Esgana ordered the barbwire fence of the beachfront property of Mayor Osmena's sister, Minnie, to be removed. Esgana said that he was only implementing an ordinance that prohibits fences along the beachfront. Come now, mayor, I've been to Sta. Fe many times before and there are many resorts in the beachfront and many of them even have concrete fences, so how come he singled out the removal of the fence of Minnie Osmeña? Selective justice? Surely the members of the LP have some kind of reciprocity or something!

In that same incident, Esgana said that Tan also challenged him. Really? I have known Tan for a long time now and he is not a person to challenge people to a fight. In short, he is not the threatening kind. But then, there was already bad blood between Tan and Esgana when the former filed a case against him in 2015 before the Office of the Ombudsman for grave threats (apparently he refused to pay his fare on the ferryboat), for which the mayor was suspended for three months last year. Now this was still when the LP was in power.

Mind you, this is the same Mayor Esgana who threatened to file charges against Sta. Fe Parish priest Fr. Roy Bucag for holding a prayer rally where one parishioner raised a tarpaulin against the mayor for allowing the Isla Music Festival during Holy Week. At this point, I have no idea if the mayor pushed through with the filing of his case against the priest.

But what I heard is that the Isla Music Festival pushed through. I also heard that this event was organized by his son. So now it gives us an idea of the character of Esgana that he would fight his own parish priest just so the Isla Music Festival would push through despite Holy Week. 

I was finished with this column quoting what Mayor Osmeña said to Mayor Esgana "Bantay-bantay lang ka." But as God would allow it, I went to Rustans in Banawa for groceries and I bumped into Mayor Osmeña. My readers know that we're no longer the best of friends with Mayor Osmeña, but I couldn't resist asking him what he really told Mayor Esgana. Mayor Osmeña told me that he merely asked him a question: "Nangita ka'g gubot?" Now was that a threat? I think Mayor Osmeña should be the one to file a case of grave abuse of authority vs. Mayor Esgana for using his position for the personal gain of his son!

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