Davide to solve 93-1 issue - Tomas

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña yesterday assured the urban poor of barangay Luz that the 93-1 issue will be resolved once lawyer Hilario “Junjun” Davide III gets elected as the new governor.

 “The new governor will be Junjun Davide. And he’ll be the one to solve the problem,” said Osmeña in a telephone interview over dyLA during the program “Tommy O ug ang Barangay.”

Davide ran for governor in the 2010 elections but lost to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia. Next year, he will run again with Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, this time against Garcia’s brother, Pablo John, Cebu’s third district representative.

More than 50 urban poor members from Barangay Luz were at the radio station yesterday to relay to Osmeña that they were invited by Mayor Michael Rama to witness his State of the City Address (Soca) yesterday afternoon.

They were allegedly instructed to bring tarpaulins that say “We support the housing programs of Mayor Mike Rama”, “We support Mayor Rama”, among others.

Osmeña said bringing of tarpaulins is “propaganda” and even joked that Rama’s group should have t-shirts with the line “I love myself” printed on it.

 Purcia Baquilta, president of Sto. Niño urban poor, said they cannot support Rama’s housing programs as they are not beneficiaries of any of it.

She also said only those who supported Rama in the last election were chosen as beneficiaries of the lots covered by the 93-1 ordinance.

 The group also alleged that the titles of the property are “not clean”.

They said even if Rama is now an ally of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, he should not claim that the 93-1 issue has been resolved.

Barangay Luz Councilor Boy Guerra said the price set for the controversial property is “very high” for the urban poor.

Guerra also said instead of sending Cebu City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete to negotiate on their behalf, the mayor should have also included representatives of the urban poor as they know the issue better than Poblete.

 Guerra said the 93-1 issue remains unresolved and he blamed Rama for the situation.

When Rama was still vice mayor, he was against land-swapping that Osmeña proposed to Garcia as a solution to the 93-1 issue.

Because of Rama’s opposition, the deal was put off and the relationship between Garcia and Osmeña turned sour.  (FREEMAN)