Cebu City Mayor’s office seal missing

CEBU, Philippines — Did the men that Tomas Osmeña ordered to strip his office of its fixtures and furnishings also bring along with them the Cebu City Mayor’s seal, or is the government symbol just misplaced?

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella realized that the seal – previously attached in Osmeña’s office at the eighth floor of the executive building – is missing when he asked for it to be brought to his office yesterday for the oath-taking ceremony of north district councilor Jerry Guardo.

Labella said the seal would have provided more weight to his duty in administering the oaths of Cebu City officials.

“Under the law, the vice mayor cannot administer the oath. We just have to remove the seal of the vice mayor because the law mandates that the mayor administers the oath. But for strange reasons, we are looking for it and until now we haven’t seen it,” said Labella, who swore in Guardo in the office of the vice mayor where he is temporarily staying.

He said the seal symbolizes the constituents of the city whom he represents as the elected chief executive.

“The seal is something that is permanent. The person sitting in the office is just temporary, lumalabay raming mga naglingkod. What’s permanent the institution,” he said. “And the institution is presented by the seal just like the flag.”

While Labella did not directly blame Osmeña for the missing seal, he noted that under the law, donations are considered government property.

“Donations to a government agency, whether cash or property, will be imbued with public character and it will become public property,” said Labella, who said that the seal was donated by the Suarez Brothers company.

In the certification from the Department of General Services, it stated that Osmeña’s personal properties only included shelves, light and plumbing fixtures, partitions and door, ceiling and floor works.

The FREEMAN tried to get Osmeña’s statement but was out of reach as of press time. (FREEMAN)