Kusug fielding Alvin for mayor

CEBU, Philippines - It’s now final. Kugi Uswag Sugbo (Kusug) will once again field former mayor Alvin B. Garcia as its standard bearer in Cebu City for the May 2010 polls. This as Garcia, a two-term mayor, filed his certificate of candidacy yesterday at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) replacing the party’s “temporary” candidate, Landelino Bontilao, who has withdrawn his candidacy.

Garcia, who also served as vice mayor to Mayor Tomas Osmeña for two terms from 1998 to 1995, said that he was convinced to run, because the present administration has failed to fulfill its responsibilities.

He also lost to Osmeña twice in the mayoralty race — first in 2001 when Garcia was seeking his third term and in a return bout in 2004.

Kusug is also fielding former councilor Rodolfo Cabrera as its vice mayoralty bet replacing Jonah John Rodriguez, who also withdrew his candidacy.

Although the Comelec set a December 1 deadline for the filing of CoCs, candidates and parties have been given until yesterday finalize their decision.

In a press conference at the Comelec office, Garcia said Osmeña’s administration failed to provide better health services to the poor residents of the city.

“Tan-awa ang mga karsada sa dakbayan dili ba daghan kaayo nga mga libaong, wala maatiman. Ang Cebu City Medical Center pasirad-an ni Tommy, ang syudad nag-ilaid sa kanihit sa kwarta tungod sa utang pagtukod sa SRP,” the former mayor said.

The 63-year-old Garcia said the survey that was conducted by an independent group showed that he and Cabrera, together with congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo, are more popular than the bets of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).

BOPK will be fielding Vice Mayor Michael Rama for mayor, former councilor Joy Young for vice mayor and Osmeña for congressman of the South District.

Guardo is running for the same post as the incumbent mayor.

Osmeña, in a separate interview, said the people should not listen to opposition leaders, which he tagged as “expert losers,” who could not even organize their team of candidates.

Osmeña said, unlike Kusug, the BOPK already had a complete line-up of candidates three months before the deadline for the filing of COCs.

“Congratulations! Dili na kita mahibulong sa ilang survey-survey nga sila kunohay ang nag-una kay kaniadto pa kana, apan sa eleksyon pilde. Dayon moingon nga sila gitikasan,” the mayor said.

Osmeña said that he wanted Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president Winston Garcia to be the opposition’s mayoralty candidate.

An insider in the opposition camp said the GSIS president, brother of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, has decided not to pursue his plan to run as mayor in Cebu City because the survey results showed he is not very popular.

For his part, Cabrera has claimed that he is a better candidate for vice mayor than Young, the mayor’s consultant for education and his former colleague in the city council, because he is a lawyer by profession.

“Kana si Joy Young sa una kon mag-session magsigi ra na og duwa-duwa, dayon mogawas ug dili na mobalik,” Cabrera said.

Young, whose comment was sought by The Freeman, retorted, “Paita, kalooy nila pagsugod pa lang gani mao ra g’yod na ang ilang isyu. Tan-awon lang nato unya sa eleksyon?”

Osmeña also said that Garcia is still facing a criminal case that was filed by the Comelec for having political advertisements more than what is allowed by law.

Aside from Bontilao, others who also withdrew their COC for mayor were former traffic czar Samuel Darza, Jacinto Iran and Ricci Malou Ranile of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino.

LDP, whose coordinator in Cebu City is Alvin Garcia, substituted Ranile with Doroteo Rama, who will be running alongside Serafin Rama Jr., who are both residents of V. Rama Avenue in barangay Calamba.

Doroteo and Serafin had two of their friends to file their certificates of candidacy (COC) before the deadline for the acceptance of substitution end at 5 p.m. yesterday.

“Klaro kaayo na nga binuang kay posible man nga masayop ang mga botante nga imbis adto sila mobotar ni Mike Rama, masaypan nila pagbotar ang pareho’g apelyedo nga kandidato sa pikas,” one of the city councilors said.

Aside from Rama, the LDP party also substituted councilorial candidate Milagros Camacho with another candidate Junas Cabarrubias maybe purposely to affect the reelection bid of BOPK Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias.—/NLQ   (FREEMAN NEWS)