Friday, April 11, 2008 Tomas, dads to support Mike in VM league polls
EVEN if it’s a gathering of vice mayors in the country, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will be attending the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines (VMLP) convention in Manila next week to help “campaign” for Vice Mayor Michael Rama.
Osmeña said he is confident that Rama has a very good chance of clinching the league presidency, but he will still drop by to ask his friends to support the Cebu City vice mayor.
Some members of the City Council will also be attending the four-day convention and election at the Manila Pavilion hotel, which will start on April 16.
“I think Mike has a very very good chance of winning. But you’ll never know with the other guys, especially when the money starts flowing,” he said without elaborating.
In his news conference yesterday, the mayor said what he will be doing is not campaigning, but asking his friends in the league to support his candidate.
“I don’t campaign unless I see my friends there. Campaigning ba na? Hunghong ra man siguro. Ako ra man sila hunghongan na palihug ug suporta sa akong tawo (I will just whisper to them and ask them to support my candidate),” he explained.
Assistance
Vice mayors from Bohol and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao have already expressed their support for Rama.
Osmeña credited this to the assistance he extended to Bohol officials in getting foreign assistance for their projects, and his being an honorary Muslim sultan, which ARMM officials recognize.
When asked if the strain in the relationship between officials of the City and the Province would affect Rama’s bid for the presidency, the mayor said: “I think they tried but it didn’t work when they asked Carlo Fortuna to run… I’m not in the position to look clearly into this but from what I know, the fight is Luzon, not in Vis-Min.”
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna earlier expressed his intention to run against Rama, but eventually decided to withdraw from the race.
Rama’s lone opponent in the April 18 election is Antipolo City Mayor Danilo Leyble. (LCR)
