CEBU City mayoralty candidate Georgia Osmeña revived yesterday the allegations that her sister-in-law and First Lady Margot Osmeña was involved in the abduction of her three children more than a decade ago.
Georgia said Margot, wife of Mayor Tomas Osmeña and a candidate for councilor, was an “accessory” to the crime committed by her estranged husband Luis Jalandoni, whom she accused of abducting their three children on March 21, 1997.
“I have avoided talking about this issue for the past 10 years…Yes it’s true that she was involved in it, from the inception all the way to the end,” Georgia said in a news conference yesterday.
She said her three children were abducted from the Cebu International School (CIS).
Sun.Star Cebu tried to call Margot for comment but she did not answer her phone.
Sought for comment, Tomas said, “Why doesn’t she (Georgia) let her children comment on that (abduction)? How come they are not campaigning for her?”
But Georgia said what Margot did hurt her.
“They (children) were brought to the car of Margot and they were driven to the airport and there was this chartered plane that flew them to Manila and from then on, for eight months, I had not heard from them,” she said.
Georgia told reporters that after the incident, she stopped talking to Margot and avoided functions where her sister-in-law was present.
“(Margot) was one of my closest friends. I was the one who introduced her to Tommy but it seemed that when I moved to Cebu, things changed. You know, when a friend
hurts you, the pain is there, eh. She has made life hard for me in Cebu City,” she said.
Georgia also told reporters yesterday that the administration party Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), which is headed by her brother Tomas, is tearing down her campaign posters in Barangays Mambaling, Lahug and Mabolo.
“My streamers were there, then you have the BOPK. The next day, I went back for a pulong-pulong, wala na yung akin, nandun pa yung kay Mike (My posters were gone but Mike’s posters were still there). I mean, obvious ba?” said Georgia. She is running against BOPK’s Michael Rama.
Georgia added that even the posters she has placed in front of her house were removed.
Sought for comment, Tomas said he gave no specific instructions to tear down Georgia’s campaign materials.
“Not specifically, but I deputized every citizen to remove all illegal posters including Mike Rama’s and mine,” he said
Asked by a reporter if she thinks the BOPK is threatened by her candidacy, Georgia said yes.
For Tomas, however, he said the BOPK is not threatened by Georgia’s candidacy.
“When Georgia launched her candidacy, only 40 attended. Who would be threatened by that?” he said. (PDF)