Rama and Pesquera must sue

I wrote about the Project NOAH in this column soon after I learned that the Cebu City Sanggunian Panlungsod was discussing a proposed memorandum of agreement to govern the use of the Big Foot studios by converting it into a COVID-19 facility. NOAH is the acronym of Normal Oasis for Adaptation and a Home (NOAH).

I learned that the owners of the firm called Big Foot initially offered their structure to Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella for any use in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. The gesture was coursed through the councilors belonging to the opposition, apparently because when Mr. Michael Gleisner, the company’s top honcho, came to Cebu, Tomas Osmeña was then the mayor. With the defeat of Osmeña, his councilors have become the opposition to the city administration.

Mayor Labella politely declined the Big Foot offer. I like to believe that the mayor preferred to focus the city’s resources in completing other relevant ongoing projects than attend to a new work load. Logical. Then, Vice Mayor Michael Rama entered the scene. He anticipated the need for more quarantine facilities and thought that the Big Foot was a proverbial manna. As it came to pass, the vice mayor took over where the mayor left.

It was probably in Rama’s view that the Big Foot studio could house a bigger number of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. Considering that the infections were surging alarmingly, such a facility was urgently needed. So, he joined hands with Atty. Joy Pesquera, the members of the council, and the private sector such as SM, Metro Pacific, Robinson’s, Filinvest, Cebu Medical Society, Oasis of Love, VECO, Philippine Water and others to realize the NOAH. The project went smoothly and quickly. There was no attendant fanfare. Indeed, when Secretary Roy Cimatu came to our city to help us flatten the proverbial curve, he saw the NOAH as the more appropriate isolation center. Cimatu did not have to pat the shoulder of Rama but his congratulatory body language was thunderous.

The other day, I read the headline news of this paper. It carried the story of Rama and Pesquera accounting for the donations received by the NOAH project from its generous benefactors. But why such a big reporting when the project appeared to be above board? What prompted this paper to send its reporter to Mike and Joy and came up with a headline? Or what made them go to The FREEMAN with a bag of seemingly irrefutable facts? The way the news was written told me that there was a reason why that story has to be reported either at the reportorial resourcefulness of this daily or at the initiative of the vice mayor and the former city councilor.

I then stumbled upon a social media account that seemed to accuse Rama and Pesquera of making money out of this project. If the blog were true, the two made millions out of the contributions given by some of Cebu City’s most generous people. On the other hand, if what was written was unfounded and baseless, its author may just have to face a possible prison term for the falsehood he/she peddled.

It then became clear to me that headline story of Rama and Pesquera accounting all contributions to the NOAH project was their reply to a possibly malicious blog. While the two hinted that a criminal prosecution can take a momentary back seat, many persons, not excluding me, opine that the legal action should be pursued without delay. These two lawyers owe the Cebuano this search for truth.