Monday, November 03, 2008 Tomas prepares for City address
MAYOR-on-leave Tomas Osmeña’s health condition, the South Road Properties (SRP) and his plans for occupants of Province-owned lots in the city are among the topics he is expected to discuss in his State of the City Address (Soca) on Saturday.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said yesterday that the mayor will announce during the Soca his ailment, the treatment he will have and how long he will be gone for his second leave of absence.
Resignation from his post, which Fernandez said is a possibility, is also expected to be clarified when Osmeña arrives from the United States on Friday.
The mayor is reportedly on top of the preparations for the Soca, which he will deliver at the Cebu City Sports Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Invite
Fernandez said Osmeña has given instructions to invite urban poor groups, occupants of Province-owned lots, City officials and employees for the occasion.
“Definitely, he will tell the public about his health, because that’s the number one concern of the people. SRP will also be a major topic, as well as the provincial lots,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
As a tradition, the Soca is delivered during the inaugural session in July of each year.
This year, however, the mayor planned to deliver it once the City finalizes a deal on the sale of the SRP.
“That is what we promised, remember? But when we finally got an offer from Filinvest, the mayor left in a rush to seek
treatment in the US. Now that his illness and the treatment is already out in the open, many people are wondering how long he will be gone, if he will resign or not. That is a possibility, if the treatment will be long. That’s a question that everyone is anticipating,” Fernandez said.
Osmeña is scheduled to arrive this Friday and will go back to the United States on Sunday for a much longer leave of absence, he added.
Osmeña has been on official leave since Oct. 8, the day he left for New York to seek a second opinion on the malignant tumor found in his urinary bladder.
The tumor was removed during a surgical procedure at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He later went to Houston, Texas for more tests.
Acting City Mayor Michael Rama will call all councilors and some department heads to a meeting today to discuss the topics they will bring up to the mayor when he arrives. (LCR)
