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First lady Margot Osmeña is running for office next year as a councilor in Cebu City's south district.
Her husband Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday announced her bid in a big gathering of barangay captains, where he also said Ronald Cuenco, a former councilor, was in the southern slate of the Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).
?Margot will be here to take care of you,? said the mayor, who is ending his term in May 2010, and seeking a congressional seat in Cebu City's south district.
Osmeña said he convinced his wife to run because ?the barangay captains have many concerns and they have no one to go to?.
His declaration ended speculation that his wife may actually run for mayor, after months of being vocal about his doubts about Vice Mayor Michael Rama's rapport with barangay captains and leadership.
Margot, who showed up at the gathering at the Grand Convention Center, said she didn't expect the public announcement there.
She said Mayor Osmeña asked her to run for councilor because she is somebody barangay captains are ?comfortable? with.
As his partner in children's welfare programs, she said she got used to city politics and was prepared for it.
?If I do anything, I'd like to make sure that I do it well,? said Margot, who used to worked in the United States as a bank manager.
?He only asked me to come today, to settle the questions and make people comfortable. No more maybes,? she said.
?It settles the questions between me and Mike. Tommy has been very clear about that.?
Margot said her candidacy was proof that mayor Osmeña knows how to ?keep his word?.
Meanwhile, Cuenco's entry in the Bando Osmeña ? Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) slate signalled a thaw in the mayor's bitter relations with his father, south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco. (See separate story).
With Margot and Cuenco, the BO-PK has completed its 8-member lineup for the south district. The north district slate is still in flux.
?We will decide at the last minute. Taas ang atong lista but we cannot accommodate everybody,? said Mayor Osmeña.
Margot and Cuenco will take the place of outgoing third-term BOPK councilors Arsenio Pacaña and Gerardo Carillo.
With Margot in the city council, Mayor Osmeña said he was confident barangay captains would be taken of care when his term as mayor ends.
?Bisan naa na ko sa ubang lugar, Margot will be here to take care of you Aron sad dili maka sulod si Joy Pesquera sa city council,? he said, taking a potshot at the longtime girlfriend of Vice Mayor Rama.
The mayor has been open in his dislike for Pesquera, a CPA-lawyer and former city councilor.
?Kamo nga mga kapitan,ug insecure kamo ubos ni Mike Rama. naa si Margot ako gi pili para kaninyong tanan,? said Osmeña.
Vice Mayor Rama, who was present in the whole-day activity, begged off from issuing any comment about the developments.
He said he would reserve his comments when all aspirants have filed their certificates of candidacy.
Rama sat among the barangay officials and listened to Osmeña's discourse, but did not address the crowd.
Osmeña met leaders of 80 city barangays in batches.
He met south district leaders in the morning and north district officials in the afternoon.
He gave an hour-long briefing on the origin of the 300-hectare South Road Properties (SRP) and the development plans he wants implemented in the reclaimed area.
?Mao ni ang akong gibilin kaninyong tanan kay misalig kamo sa inyong mayor (This is what I leave all of you because you trusted your mayor),? he said , referring to the P6 billion Japanese loan secured by the Cebu City government, the first time a local government in the country was allowed to directly assume a foreign loan in the 1990s.
?Ang akong mensahe:we won.?
The mayor gave updates about new investors in the SRP and said it is now starting to earn for Cebu City.
After his SRP presentation, Osmeña turned to politics, where he dismissed as ?intrigue?, reports that he may run as the vice mayoral candidate of former senator John Osmeña.
Osmeña said he would seek election as congressman of the south district.
He and wife Margot already transferred their voter's registration from Camputhaw in the north district, where they used to live in Escario Street to barangay Guadalupe in the south, last June.
?Ingon sila mo dagan kuno ko ug vice mayor. Ato ning klarohon. I'm endorsing Mike Rama and Joy Young. Ug naminaw kamo sa mga balita sa radyo ug sa mga mantalaan, pulos itriga lang na.?
There was applause and cheers from about 400 south district barangay officials who filled the room in the morning. North district barangay officials did the same in the afternoon.
Ana Tabal, a councilor and former barangay captain of the southern barangay of Tagbao, said she was very happy to have Margot for a councilor.
?When Mayor Osmeña's first term as mayor ended in 1995, we already asked that Ma'm Margot be made to run for mayor. But Mayor Osmeña preferred to make Alvin (Garcia) run. I am very happy now that she is finally running,? Tabal told CDN.
Buot Taup Councilor Daya Calleno, a former barangay captain, said having Margot and Cuenco run in their south district was like ?winning the lottery?.
BO-PK bets for the north district will be decided in due time.
?There is no hurry anyway. But we have to be very clear that we cannot accommodate everybody,? Mayor Osmeña said.
He said he wanted the opposition party Kusug to declare its north district slate first
?Let's wait for the other side to form their ticket first because the other side is waiting for our rejects,? said Osmeña.
Ronald Cuenco to give up green card for politics
BY rejoining the BO-PK, Ronald Cuenco helps heal the rift between his father Rep. Antonio Cuenco and Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
The 45-year-old former councilor also has to give up his green card.
?I conferred with my father about my joining the BO-PK slate and he said that he would leave it up to me,? said the younger Cuenco.
He admitted being hesitant to give up his green card which assures entry and employment in the United States, where his wife works as a nurse.
?But Margot explained to me that I can always get a tourist visa.?
?I feel very very honored and happy that I was welcomed back into the folds of BOPK,? said Cuenco.
Cuenco said he's been a loyal BO-PK since he was elected councilor in 1995. He served three terms.
Cuenco returned to Cebu this year with his children, where the family decided to enroll them in school, after living in the United States for several years.
He said he hoped his reentry in the administration group would settle the ?rift? between his father and the mayor.
The mayor acknowledged that timing was an important factor.
?When Tony Cuenco said (early this month) that he is not going to run for mayor (for Kusug party) that was the time I said we can already talk to Ronald Cuenco.?
Ronald said that like Margot he did not expect the mayor's announcement of his candidacy in yesterday's forum of barangay captains.
Now that his candidacy is already known, Ronald said he wanted to reintroduce himself to south district voters.
?I have no problems with older voters because they already know me. But for the younger voters, I will just have to work hard to reintroduce myself,? he said.
With Bo-PK's south district slate complete , Mayor Osmeña said they would focus on ?tightening their ranks?.
?I expect a lot of money to come out in the south (in the election). They (the opposition) will really be putting in a lot of money because if they don't there seems to be no chance (for their victory),? he said.
He said he encourages all aspirants, including former senator John Osmeña, sister Georgia and GSIS general manager Winston Garcia to seek election in Cebu City.
Osmeña said he was willing to reconcile with his cousin Sonny because he didn't want an obstacle in his fight with provincial officials led by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
So now he wouldn't mind if Sonny also runs in Cebu City.
?It's Mike and Joy Young as far as BO-PK is concerned against whoever will run. Even Winston can run. Everybody who wants to run can run for as long as it is not Alvin Garcia because I'd fall asleep,? he said. /Reporter Doris C. Bongcac
