Thursday, November 08, 2007 Tomas prefers Talamban chief for top ABC post
IN WHAT could be seen as his approval of Alvin Arcilla, Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said the Talamban village chief has the advantage over other possible replacements of Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Eugenio Faelnar.
He said Arcilla has the required experience, having helped organize eight barangays to form a cohesive group mutually protecting one other’s turf against criminality.
While he acknowledged that a bloc will play a crucial role in picking the next ABC president, like Busay Barangay Captain Eliodoro Sanchez espousing the concerns of the 34 mountain villages, Arcilla has the eight barangays as his own bloc.
Talamban, the mayor said, was once a mountain barangay, in reference to Sanchez, who offered himself as an alternative candidate.
Sanchez earlier said there was never a time when somebody from a mountain barangay was ABC president.
However, the mayor said, “In my experience, it’s good to get somebody who is promoting inter-barangay cooperation. Our only example is the GB8 of 8 (Group of Eight Barangays Under Police Station 8).”
Osmeña also did not spare opposition figure Mary Ann de los of Barangay Lahug a mouthful for making public her intention to run for ABC president.
He said that in saying she will first ascertain if she has the numbers before making a final decision, she may have been referring to how much she would get in cash if she runs for ABC president.
Osmeña said that de los Santos declared she was running for mayor last May only after south district congressional aspirant Jonathan Guardo said he will give P5 million to support her campaign.
In a separate interview, an angry de los Santos offered to have her brother, a neuro-psychiatrist based in Illinois, USA, check Osmeña’s sanity for free as her “service to the Cebuanos.”
“I am now questioning the state of mind of the mayor. Every time I go into an election, he always associates it with money…. Is this out of insanity or out of bitterness?” she said.
Numbers
De los Santos toppled Osmeña’s bet, Romeo Berdon, in last week’s barangay elections by a margin of over 8,000 votes.
“It is high time already for him to undergo psychiatric treatment. I have a brother in Illinois specializing in neuro-psychiatry. He can return home and check on the mayor pro bono. I’m not certain anymore if the mayor of Cebu City is sane…. His pronouncements are all foul. Put that on record. He talks stupid already,” she said.
De los Santos said the ABC, instead of siding with her, being a fellow barangay captain, opted to support the mayor when they tangled over the school building.
That is why she would like to restore the ABC’s independence by running for ABC president to see whether Osmeña will meddle or not.
Osmeña encouraged de los Santos to run to see if she really has the numbers to win the ABC seat.
He called her a hypocrite in criticizing the “lack of independence” in the ABC for supporting his recent decisions.
Debate
In its general assembly last June, the ABC approved a resolution expressing their “vote of confidence” and trust in Osmeña in whatever actions he will take.
The mayor that time stopped the construction of a school building in Lahug over what de los Santos said during the campaign leading to the May 14 elections.
The mayor wondered why de los Santos did not question the ABC’s independence when, under the leadership of Punta Princesa Barangay Captain Jose Navarro, it initiated recall moves against him after he won against former mayor Alvin Garcia in the 2001 local elections.
But de los Santos said the mayor is the real hypocrite for campaigning against her in the recent barangay elections, by distributing handbills calling her a documented liar, when he earlier announced that he will not involve himself in the elections. (RHM)
