Osmeña admits he’s after Talisay City’s ‘wrong leaders’

CEBU CITY — The attacks of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña against Talisay City have finally assumed political color.

In his regular press conference Monday afternoon, Osmeña admitted that the only reason why he kept on attacking Talisay City is its "wrong leaders."

Osmeña said Talisaynons must realize that it is only when their "wrong leaders" are ousted that he would reconsider his anti-Talisay moves and his plan to drive the neighboring city into bankruptcy in two years, as what he threatened to do the previous day.

When pressed for specifics, Osmeña said he would stop hounding Talisay if its residents would boot out first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas from the political scene, and also elect Gabriel Leyson, an incumbent Cebu City councilor, as mayor.

"It is only because they elected wrong leaders. As a matter of fact, not only did I treat them very fair, I also went out of my way to help them, until these guys started abusing," he said.

Osmeña said it is now high time for Cebu City to get back at Talisay because it was the "Talisay leaders of Gullas and his cohorts who have threatened Cebu City with bankruptcy unless we give them 54 hectares."

Osmeña got incensed at Talisay’s insistent claim over a portion of the 295-hectare south reclamation project.

The claim has technically blocked the issuance of a title for the property and stalled whatever plans Osmeña has for the reclamation project.

"You know, if this happened 200 years ago, there would be a war," Osmeña said. "Our good neighbor is not a good neighbor. Where did we go wrong? Maybe, we were just too nice to them."

Osmeña’s recent plan against Talisay was to nullify Republic Act 8979, which converted the municipality into a city in 1999.

Gullas, who authored RA 8979, was not available for comment because he was reportedly still in Geneva, Switzerland on official business.

Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, however, said he was unfazed by Osmena’s threats. "God will always shield us against all trials," he said.

Osmeña has insisted that Talisay failed to comply with the requirements for cityhood and accused Gullas of "fabrications and lies" just to make Talisay a city.

Previously, Osmeña aimed his attacks at Talisaynons who made a living in Cebu City. He drove the vendors out of the city markets, fired traffic enforcers and City Hall employees, and closed the south coastal road, depriving Talisaynons of a vital shortcut to Cebu City.

And to spite Talisay further, Osmeña promised to give two hectares of the south reclamation project to Cordova town, which he considered friendly and cooperative to his city. — Freeman News Service