Duterte to Tomas Osmeña: 'Don’t mess with me'

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte slammed Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña on Thursday for  ”spreading rumors” and criticizing his administration.

“Hey Tomas, this isn’t the time of the Spaniards, OK? The way you talk it seems you have a very high position in life...You even said that I’m the protector of shabu,” the President said in his speech at the 49th charter anniversary of Mandaue City in Cebu.

“Don’t mess with me because I’m not a Cebuano that you can push around. I’m not a local here that you can bully,” the President said.

Duterte said he went to Cebu because he wanted to confront Osmeña.

”I said once I see him, I would slap him... I will slap you. Wait and see,” Duterte said.

The President said Osmeña is “suffering from hubris.”

“He’s the kind of person who believes he will never make a mistake. He’s incapable of being wrong. He’s always right,” Duterte said.

Osmeña had been quoted as saying that Duterte could not rely on the police in the war against illegal drugs, adding that drug rehabilitation facilities in the country are “very poor.” 

Osmeña also reportedly said the national government should not meddle in the affairs of his city.

“You talk as if you are somebody, not to touch Cebu because you said it is yours... Cebu City has never been yours... You are only mayor of Cebu City because of your political name,” Duterte said.

Osmeña is the grandson of former president Sergio Osmeña Sr. and older brother of former senator Sergio Osmeña III.

Two sides to a story

 Osmeña shrugged off the President’s remarks.

“The President is entitled to say whatever he wants. As a lawyer, I am sure that he knows there are two sides to any story,” Osmeña said in a post on Facebook yesterday.

He said Presidential Assistant to the Visayas Michael Diño and officials of the Central Visayas police could be feeding the President false information.

Osmeña said he would not allow the President’s criticisms against him to affect his job.

“If I have to be the bad guy for mentioning that there is a problem, so be it. No problem, this is what I signed up for,” he said.