CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña officiated the oath taking of the newly elected SK chairperson of barangay Talamban Christine Claire Bontuyan yesterday.
Bontuyan, together with her councilors, ran as an independent candidate during the last election.
She decided to take her oath with Osmeña, saying unity is what they need to improve their barangay.
“I think that for a government to function properly power must properly be decentralized. In order for us to work cohesively in the government, we must take cognition and we must adhere to the administration and that administration is led by Mayor Tommy Osmeña,” Bontuyan said in an interview.
She said the present administration must be respected to have a progressive society.
Bontuyan graduated last 2016 from the University of San Carlos with a degree of BS Accounting Technology and is in her third year in Law. She said she is also open to running for the post of SK federation president.
CCTN station manager and now Barangay Banilad Captain Dennes Tabar and Barangay Tinago Captain Domingo Lopez and their councilors also took their oath in a separate ceremony earlier yesterday at the Mayor’s Office officiated by Osmeña.
Meanwhile, Osmeña described the move of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas in inviting some of the elected Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials in Cebu City as a “sign of desperation.”
“Why did they focus on Cebu City? You know why? We get a lot of attention because we did not join PDP-Laban,” he said.
At present, 42 elected SK chairpersons are now allied with Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) after Talamban SK Chairperson Christine Claire Bontuyan took her oath yesterday before Mayor Tomas Osmeña; while 38 are with the opposition.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña also said that he will not meddle on the issue on who should run as president of the SK Federation.
“No, they will choose, not me. I think they should all be given the chance, they are young, they are new, they have to have the right balance of guidance without being dictatorial,” he said.
The leadership of SKF is crucial to both the administration and opposition as the president gets a seat in the City Council as ex-officio member.
Osmeña has been vocal about getting the majority in the City Council through the SK and Association of Barangay Councils. (RVC)