Mike, Tom play “cat and mouse”

CEBU, Philippines - Former allies turned political rivals, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and former south district Rep. Tomas Osmeña, played the “cat and mouse” game during the Governor’s Night to culminate the 444th anniversary celebration of the Province of Cebu.

Both Rama and Osmeña were invited by Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III to the celebration together with the Provincial Board members as well as the city and town officials.  

Osmeña was with his wife, Cebu City Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña.

The Osmeñas are allies of Davide in the Liberal Party. The couple was pleased to attend the event, a first after nine years.

The former congressman has been a known critic of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia who led the Capitol for three consecutive terms or nine years.

After the Osmeñas left the party Wednesday night, Rama arrived. He was obviously avoiding contact with Osmeña.

The two battled it out for the mayoralty post in the recent May elections.

Although not under the same party, both Rama and Davide have expressed their willingness to work together in projects for Cebu. They were also former colleagues in the city council. Davide said that no issues were discussed during the party.

“Nagkomedyahay raman mi ato, nothing political, nothing official last night.”

Cebu City Vice Mayor Eduardo Labella, who also attended the event, said that the gathering was simple and dignified, which “speaks of the kind of governor that we have.” Labella and Davide worked together years back when they were both city councilors.

Apart from the Mayors and Vice Mayors, regional directors of government offices were also present during the gathering as well as some officials of the Philippe National Police, including the new Provincial Regional Office-7 director, Supt. Danilo Constantino, and Cebu Provincial Police Office director Patrocinio Comendador.

True to their promise to cut down on expenses, the governor’s night was short and simple.

Davide said that it was just a plain get-together of officials and guests, a first since he assumed office in July.

The program started around 6 p.m. with a welcome message from Vice Governor Agnes Magpale. It ended around 9 p.m. with Davide thanking the guests for making time for the dinner party.  In his speech, Davide stressed that it was just a plain “salo-salo” and in fact teased that it would be nicer the next time if they have it in the beach.

Instead of calling it Governor’s Night, Davide also opted to change it to “Gabii sa Sugbo.”

“Happy Anniversary! Let’s hope for the best para sa atong lalawigan sa Sugbo,” said Davide as he proposed a toast for the province.

Ethel Natera, Provincial Information Officer, said that they were also very thankful for their guest performers that included the San Diego Dance group and Cebu Dancesport, since they gave performances in gratis. 

The Provincial Government was able to save close to P900,000 in this year’s celebration of the Province’s founding anniversary compared to last year.

Provincial Budget Officer Danilo Rodas said they were able to pull off all the planned activities with the approved budget of around P1.7 million.  He said, in an initial estimate, the expenses for this year’s festivities is at P1,731,915.

Last year, the 443rd celebration, which was a month-long event, reached P2,595,482.  For this year, Davide decided to scrap a number of events and squeezed it all into one week instead of one month to save cost.

One of the events that Davide decided not to hold this year was the annual fashion show among the employees where new sets and designs of uniforms for Capitol personnel are to be showcased.

Last year, the provincial capitol spent P60,000 for the fashion show alone. Davide earlier said that they will not hold the fashion show this year since they are looking on giving out uniform allowances, instead of providing the cloth that will be chosen during the fashion show.

Another event that was not staged this year was the sportsfest, which Rodas said added to the savings. Davide also forego with the annual Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, an event where municipalities in the province show-off their respective festivals and rich culture.

Rodas said that the Pasigarbo has a separate allocation that is not included in the approved budget for the founding anniversary. As earlier reported, a P5 million budget was allocated for the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo this year which is P15 million lesser than in 2012. — /FPL (FREEMAN)