WITH Winston Garcia declaring a “50 percent” chance of running for Cebu City mayor, local opposition leader Jonathan Guardo again predicted that incumbent Mayor Tomas Osmeña will be forced to junk Vice Mayor Michael Rama for his wife Margot.

Rama, Guardo said, would likely be asked to run for south district congressman, with Tomas withdrawing from the race because of health reasons.

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The mayor, head of administration party Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), had his urinary bladder removed this year due to cancer.

“With Winston Garcia’s possible entry into the mayoral derby, I believe that Mayor Osmeña will now change course and will be forced to field Margot for the mayorship. He will be forced to junk Mike Rama or ask him to run for Congress in the south,” Guardo said.

Can’t afford

“Winston is a strong bet and he knows how to win. Mike Rama has no leadership and lacks the support of BOPK leaders. Tomas believes that Mike is weak… He can’t afford to lose City Hall, more so the SRP (South Road Properties), (which is) his enterprise,” Guardo said.

Told of Guardo’s statements, the mayor, in text messages to Sun.Star Cebu, said Rama “will knock out Winston,” whom he likened to Cotto, who was bigger than boxing great Manny Pacquiao but lost to the Filipino in their recent fight.

Billion pesos

“Cotto was the bigger man, just like Winston has a billion pesos. Just like Pacquiao beating up Mexicans, Mike Rama is a Garcia destroyer, just like he clobbered Mr. Baruganan Raymond Garcia by about 50,000 votes,” he said.

Tomas said Raymond, who lost to Rama in the vice mayoral race in the 2007 elections, “got knocked out in over 2,000 precincts.”

‘One Family’

“So next election, it will be BOPK versus One Family (Garcias) believing they are One Cebu,” Tomas said.

In response to the mayor’s analogy, Guardo said Rama is not a boxer but a singer.

“Mike Rama is not a Pacquiao. He is not even a boxer. He is just a singer,” Guardo said.

The vice mayor is known for singing during gatherings.

Successor

Rama, whom the mayor anointed as his successor, had said in past interviews that he will answer questions on politics only after he files his certificate of candidacy (COCs).

On his political nemesis saying his health is “deteriorating,” Tomas said, “Poor Guardo, he keeps praying that I’m sick.”

Guardo said Rama’s tandem with education consultant Joy Augustus Young is a mere “ploy.”

“We in the opposition will just watch in the sidelines the development in the next few days. Let’s see who will blink first,” he said.

He also joked that since Tomas would wait for the opposition to file their COCs before the BOPK candidates will, he would have 11:59 p.m. of Nov. 30 reserved for them so that BOPK would file on 12:01 a.m. the next day.

Filing of COCs is from Nov. 20 to Nov. 30, with midnight of the last day serving as the deadline.