Rama’s win launching ground for nat’l post?

Could it be that Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama is eyeing for a national position that he fought very hard to win the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines presidency?

And while the mayoralty post may be the nearest that Rama could reach soon, Mayor Tomas Osmeña hinted yesterday that the VMLP presidency is a “good launching point” for a senatorial post.

A case in point, Osmeña said, is that of former Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto who was able to gain massive support when he ran for the Senate.

Apart from his popularity as an actor, the support for Sotto was also reportedly largely because of the political network he established as former president of the VMLP.

Osmeña said Rama’s victory has reestablished Cebu’s influence on the rest of the Philippines.

At the VMLP elections last week in Manila, Rama won over Antipolo City Vice Mayor Danilo Leyble with 251 votes, a sweet victory for him after two successive defeats in 2002 and 2005. 

During the election, the biggest surprise was the tally from the National Capital Region vice mayors from whom Rama earned 11 votes while Leyble garnered only one.

Rama also made significant wins from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao vice mayors who gave him 55 votes over Leyble’s one vote. He also got 91 votes over Leyble’s three votes from Region 8 voters, and 75 over Leyble’s eight from Region 7.

Rama said he is now bent on implementing reforms in the league, specifically on the manner of its elections.

Rama said he does not fully agree with the election process in which the three major regions - Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao - were assigned a particular color of ballot.  — Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM