Tuesday, January 22, 2008 'M' on T-shirts could be Mike
WOMEN wearing blue and yellow shirts with a large letter “M” printed on the back drew the attention of some spectators at the VIP section of the Cebu City Sports Center grandstand last Sunday.
The 19 women were close friends of Cebu City First Lady Margot Osmeña from their high school days at Maryknoll College in Manila.
They were visiting Cebu for the first time.
A radio commentator had asked if the letter “M” stood for “Margot” and if it had anything to do with politics.
“Please don’t make something out of nothing. `M’ stands for Maryknoll. They were my classmates and we recently had a homecoming, 40 years after we graduated in high school. And they said they haven’t been to Cebu so I invited them to attend the Sinulog,” Margot told Sun.Star Cebu.
Before changing into her gold gown for the grand finale production number, Margot wore the same black Sinulog shirt with the City Government seal that organizers wore.
When asked about the “M” shirts last Sunday night, Mayor Tomas Osmeña told reporters the same thing.
“`M’ can also stand for Mike Rama for Mayor or Mar Roxas for President. If it were for publicity or politics, you know I don’t have to do that. If ever, I would just say it straight. But it’s not,” Margot explained.
She said she had the shirts printed so that it would be easier to spot her friends among the crowd.
The shirt is colored blue and yellow, which are also the colors of the mayor’s political party, Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan.
But Margot said the colors also represent the colors of Maryknoll (now called Miriam College), which are gold and blue.
“There were 19 of them and I had to explain to them that it’s easy to get lost during the Sinulog so I had similar shirts printed so it would be easy to see them. What can I do if Maryknoll’s color is also blue and gold? Besides, those girls can never vote for me, they’re all based in Manila,” she said.
Margot said the mayor already warned her there would be blind items about the shirt, but she said that it didn’t matter. (LCR)
