Team Rama councilors relent on consultants

CEBU, Philippines — Two days after the opposition-dominated Cebu City Council turned down the renewal of contracts for the two consultants of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, some members of Barug Team Rama have relented and said they are willing to reconsider.

Councilor Joel Garganera said they are willing to approve the consultancy contracts of Elmer Mansanadez and Bonel Balingit on condition that they appear before the City Council in the next session and present their accomplishments and plans and programs for the city.

In a vote of 9-8, the City Council disapproved the resolutions of Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. endorsing the renewal of contracts for Mansanadez, consultant for urban planning and housing matters, and Balingit, consultant for sports development. The two are receiving P18,000 monthly salary each.

The opposition councilors, however, are somehow trying to bargain with Osmeña for their own consultants. Garganera admitted he submitted a request to Osmeña for the hiring of his own legislative consultant.

“I have submitted my request for the hiring of my consultant and we will just see if the mayor will approve it. We need consultants because it will make us better legislators,” Garganera told reporters yesterday.

He said the city councilors need to hire consultants for them to introduce good legislative measures in the council. Garganera explained that there was nothing personal in their disapproval of the two consultants of Osmeña. He said they merely wanted to make sure that the city’s money used to pay for the consultants will not be wasted.

Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. said the mayor should support the hiring of consultants for all councilors as it would help uphold the principle of check and balance between the legislative and the executive.

Alcover said the opposition councilors will approve the consultants of Osmeña if they can help the city government.

“Bati paminawon nga mangayo siya og consultants among aprobahan unya kon kami ang mangayo, dili aprobahan,” he told reporters.

For Osmeña, the opposition should not be starting a conversation about saving money because the previous administration hired 23 consultants that did not have good achievements.

“I don’t like to make decisions under duress. But I would like to point out to the people that the council is really obstructing and harassing me,” he told reporters.

Osmeña said the City Council has not approved a single penny for the renovation of his office while the previous administration spent over P10 million for it.

He said he has about 10 consultants that are working hard for the city, stressing that he is not wasting the city’s funds. Further, the mayor said he is not even using government vehicle and he is paying for his own gasoline.

“This is the kind of game they are playing with me. I’m not in the mood for going along with that,” he said.

Osmeña said he will not decide yet if he will approve or not the hiring of consultants for opposition councilors. Garganera described the mayor as the “biggest bully.”

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia also took exception to Osmeña’s claim that he is being harassed by the opposition. Garcia said it is them that were harassed by the mayor.

He cited incidents that the mayor recalled all vehicles of the barangays, cut off allowances of barangay workers, and filed a string of cases against the opposition, among others.

He said he would accept if the mayor will hire for “political accommodation” so long as the consultants’ expertise and achievements are justified.

Councilor Margarita Osmeña, the wife of the mayor, said opposition councilors should stop giving different reasons for the disapproval of the hiring of consultants of the mayor.

Councilor Osmeña said it was Councilor Jose Daluz III who admitted that they wanted to have consultants that is why they are disapproving the renewal of the consultants of the mayor. She said Garcia’s criticisms against Balingit’s accomplishment report are not true.

“It was not that he visited two barangays for two to three months but he visited two barangays a month,” Councilor Osmeña said. (FREEMAN)