Rama hires Alvin, Cuenco as consultants

CEBU, Philippines - Former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia and former congressman Antonio “Tony” Cuenco will be actively involved in Mayor Michael Rama’s second term.

Rama yesterday announced that Garcia and Cuenco will be his new consultants starting July 1.

“I already told the core group that both will help me in my second term,” Rama  told reporters, referring to his evaluation committee that is also responsible for assessing casual employees.

Cuenco, according to the mayor, said he is interested to help the city on matters concerning sister cities. The former congressman’s son James ran for a seat in the city council and won under Team Rama.

Kugi Uswag Sugbo (KUSUG) founder Garcia will assist the second-termer mayor in realizing his unfinished infrastructure development projects.

“Former mayor Alvin Garcia had visionary projects for the city which were stopped when my predecessor assumed office after his term. Like the waterfront development project, the bridge connecting barangay Guadalupe to Capitol area,” Rama added.

Garcia, after expressing support over Rama’s reelection bid, earlier announced his intentions to serve as City Hall consultant with a P1 per year salary.

The former mayor also earlier believed that Rama will let him fulfill his vision of an “aesthetically and economically improved coastal area” which was not continued when outgoing Congressman Tomas Osmeña replaced him as mayor of the city.

The reelected mayor also assured Team Rama campaign managers, outgoing Councilors Joey Daluz and Edu Rama, of continued participation at the City Hall.

“Daluz will be helping out the office of the city administrator (Atty. Jose Marie) Poblete. I will announce where Edu (Rama) will be placed but certainly the two of them will still be involved in the City Government,” the mayor said.

Both outgoing councilors are willing to be part as an organic City Hall employee and not as consultants, Rama added.

Following Rama’s earlier announcement of revamp of the department heads, the mayor named Atty. Dominic Diño to head the Human Resource Development Office (HRDO).

Diño started as a City Hall employee in the 1990s as Rama’s chief of staff.

“Nganung dili man siya ma-angayan sa position? Seminarista, professor, abogado,” Rama described his new HRDO chief.

Outgoing HRDO chief Atty. Evangeline Abatayo was reportedly among the six department heads who walked ahead of others when called by the mayor in a meeting accordingly after being asked to support Rama’s reelection bid.

Also among the six, DMDP chief Fidel Magno has not been decided by the mayor and the core group, Rama told reporters./JPM (FREEMAN)