Saturday, February 03, 2007 4 of 5 members of Gullas family are against it By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Rene H. Martel
INVITATIONS for him to run for Cebu City mayor may not have the support of his family, but former congressman Jose “Dodong” Gullas will give himself more time to think about his possible candidacy.
Even if politicians, family friends, businessmen and even priests have repeatedly asked him to consider running against Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Gullas said he does not feel any pressure to enter politics.
“There’s no pressure but I can glean that the people really want me to consider running. The way I look at it, the Cebuanos are just hungry for a choice, for options, instead of having only one candidate for mayor,” he said in an interview at his office yesterday.
Gullas said he had the chance to discuss the matter with his wife and four children during his 73rd birthday celebration last Thursday.
And of the five immediate family members, only one is in favor of his possible candidacy.
For now, he said, his priorities are his family and the University of the Visayas, where he sits as president.
Gullas said he also hasn’t spoken with his brother, Rep. Eduardo Gullas, whose opinion on political matters he values.
Before deciding on Feb. 19 or 21 whether he will join the mayoral race, the former congressman said he will seek the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a pilgrimage site in Simala in Sibonga town.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he will not get in the way of Gullas or former mayor Alvin Garcia and his son Raymond if they decide to run against him.
“I already announced that I will not get in the way of anybody who wanted to run or not run. Gullas and Raymond is a very formidable tandem. They’re Sun.Star and Freeman and that’s the most potent demolition machines,” he said of the possible candidates and the newspapers they own.
If Gullas decides not to run, the opposition wants to field Alvin Garcia to run against Osmeña.
But regardless of who his opponent will be, Osmeña said he will campaign hard. “I will always campaign even if the dog is my opponent. The dog will win if I will not campaign,” he said.
Even his party’s candidates for councilors will have to campaign hard because he expects some issues to be used against them, including the hitches the land swap deal has encountered.
“I can anticipate that the issues are one, the council is just a rubber stamp. If they are a rubber stamp, I will not have a problem with the 93-1 today. The council did not go along with my recommendations for the land swap. Anything I proposed is always subject to scrutiny. And sometimes, they disagree. That they are a rubber stamp is not true,” he added.
Also yesterday, the mayor was happy to announce that for the last quarter of 2006, Cebu City ranked first among 13 cities in the region in terms of tax collection efficiency as reported by the Bureau of Local Government Finance.
When he took over the mayorship after Garcia, Osmeña said the city ranked number 12. Last year, the city ranked fourth out of 13 cities.
Tomas is also “willing to bet” his estranged cousin John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña will not win in the May elections.
This is his reaction when told that Sonny is among the senatorial candidates the United Opposition announced the other day.
“He can’t win in his own precinct and then he runs for senator?” Tomas told a press conference in his office yesterday.
He later clarified that Sonny ranked 12th in his (Sonny’s) polling precinct.
But, the mayor said, his cousin edged the 13th ranked candidate by just a vote.
“If he did not vote for himself pilde siya. That is why I’m willing to bet dili siya kadaug,” Osmeña said.
In the 2004 national elections, Sonny complained he was cheated in Cebu because he is a Cebuano and residents here would naturally vote for him.
But he did not even rank among the 12 winners in Cebu. He was just 13th in Cebu city.
Tomas said Sonny has always been anti-Cebu, and narrated how his cousin, as chairman of the Senate committee on finance, cancelled appropriations for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the P900-million National Government counterpart funding for Cebu City’s South Road Properties.
Sonny, Osmeña said, also voted for the impeachment of then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., and supported Joseph “Erap” Estrada instead of Cebuanos Marcelo Fernan and Lito Osmeña when they vied for the vice presidency.
Asked what started his conflict with Sonny, Osmeña said that Sonny “fought with Cory (Aquino,” changed party and joined Jovito Salonga, and then aligned with businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.
When he (Tomas) did not support Cojuangco, Sonny allegedly badmouthed him.
In 2004, Sonny, who was in the opposition, joined President Arroyo’s party’s ticket but lost.
This May, he is among those challenging Arroyo’s lineup.
