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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Rama confused: What do they want me to do?
Confused about what Capitol officials are asking him to do, Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama is still undecided on what he will say when he delivers a privilege speech this afternoon.
Rama said he might answer questions thrown at him by Capitol officials regarding the proposed land swap.
Insulted
Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia said earlier that the Province was insulted when Rama commented in a privilege speech that the Cebu City Government may be put at a disadvantage in the proposed deal, so he should explain in the same forum if his opinion is still the same.
“I am confused about what Atty. John Garcia wants because a lot of people asked me and they had different questions.
Some say I have to apologize while some say I need to explain. I might use the privilege hour tomorrow, but not necessarily to talk directly about the lot swap because I’m not too sure unsay gusto nila,” he told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Rama said he will first read today’s news reports about Garcia’s comments before he makes a draft of his speech.
‘“I was never against the land swap proposal and I have always kept an open mind about it…. At this point, I don’t want to disturb the negotiations on the proposal,” he added.
If approved, the land swap proposal will give reprieve to some 5,000 families occupying Province-owned lots in Cebu City.
Notices
Governor Garcia has signed notices of eviction to some of the occupants after they failed to pay Capitol for the lots they were supposed to acquire under Provincial Ordinance 93-1.
At the Archbishop’s Palace, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said the kind of attention given to delegates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in December should also be given to the poor.
This is his reaction to the Cebu Provincial Government’s move to evict illegal settlers in Barangay Luz.
The cardinal hopes Capitol will also assist those who will be displaced.
“The way our authority would like to prepare the place, I wish that they would also prepare for those affected,” said Vidal.
“They are human, not basura that they can just throw away…. Let us preserve the dignity of man and the right to self-worth.”
Luz residents asked for the cardinal’s help that they may keep their lots.
But Garcia earlier said that Vidal told her that he will not be intervening in the Capitol’s intention to repossess the lots covered by Provincial Ordinance 93-1.
In a separate interview, Councilor Edgardo Labella said he believes the vice mayor doesn’t need to apologize through a privilege speech because he already apologized to officials of the Province during a press conference days after he delivered his privilege speech last March 15.
He also pointed out that in last week’s council session, Rama supported the resolution authorizing the mayor to pursue negotiations with the Province regarding the land swap.
“As far as I can recall, Vice Mayor Rama already apologized to the governor and the Provincial Board the day after the governor reacted to his privilege speech,” he told reporters yesterday.
Labella said he had always favored the land swap deal. And while there were objections the first time it was proposed, majority of the council members endorsed it, he added. (LCR/JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 30, 2006 issue)
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