Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Probe Tomas for gun-toting, Capitol asks
A CAPITOL consultant wants the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to look into reports that an allegedly drunk Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña recently apprehended several taxi drivers and private vehicle owners for traffic violations at Fuente Osmeña.
Citing the article of Sun.Star Cebu columnist Bobby Nalzaro, lawyer Rory Jon Sepulveda, Capitol consultant on information, said the anti-graft office should investigate whether the mayor’s act violated the law on the proper conduct of public officials.
Osmeña’s arrest of erring drivers should be looked into so the public would know that nobody is above the law, said Sepulveda.
The lawyer said he was concerned about the incident since it occurred at Fuente Osmeña, the property whose ownership is being contested by the Capitol and City Hall.
“To be fair, I think the ombudsman should investigate this. This is worth an investigation. This is in connection with a public official’s conduct and discharge of his
duties,” Sepulveda told reporters.
In his column published last Monday, Nalzaro said he received reports that Osmeña “was carrying a pistol when he arrested taxi drivers and private vehicle owners who
triple-parked at Fuente Osmeña.”
Nalzaro said a very reliable source who witnessed the incident told him that Osmeña was holding a pistol and used it to knock on the doors of the vehicles parked in front
of a hotel.
‘Supporter’
“Some drivers who noticed the mayor scampered in separate directions. The mayor spared those who shouted at him, ‘Mayor, supporter mi nimo (we are your supporters).’ The source said a young man believed to be the mayor’s son Miguel approached him, took the firearm and brought it to the mayor’s service vehicle,” Nalzaro wrote in his column.
Sepulveda recalled that the anti-graft office even conducted an investigation against former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia for bringing home Viagra sometime in 1998.
At that time, Viagra was still not approved in the country for sale or consumption. Garcia had bought the potency pill during a US trip and admitted having given some to certain City Hall officials as “pasalubong.”
The anti-graft office eventually cleared Garcia of administrative and criminal charges in 2000.
Last week’s incident involving Osmeña and traffic violators was not a first for the mayor.
Parking
In 2003, Osmeña reportedly hit a taxi driver while apprehending him for a parking violation in front of a hospital.
Although he had admitted carrying a gun in his right hand, Osmeña said he merely shoved Dominador Mulleon Jr. with his left hand.
The mayor had said he needed to carry his gun with him everywhere for security since he didn’t have many bodyguards then. He had said he wanted the incident to be a lesson to all taxi drivers in need of discipline. (GMD)
