Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Tomas won’t quit but will be away longer
CEBU City Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña assured he will not resign from his post, although his leave will be much longer, or until after next year’s Sinulog.
Last Sunday, City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said many people are wondering if the mayor will resign from his post considering the treatment he needs.
He also said the mayor will clarify the resignation issue when he returns for a brief visit to Cebu.
The mayor is scheduled to arrive Friday morning and is set to meet city officials and visitors at the City Hall Legislative Building in the afternoon.
He will visit his bedridden mother in Bacolod City on Saturday and deliver a State of the City Address (Soca) at the Cebu City Sports Center in the afternoon.
He will return to the United States on Sunday.
In a text message he sent from the US, the mayor said that he is scheduled to undergo a series of chemotherapy treatments for his urinary bladder cancer later this
month.
This will be followed by a surgery.
With this development, Osmeña expects to be back to Cebu only after the Sinulog, which is held on the third Sunday of January.
“Chemo requires me to be confined in the hospital two days a week so I will find it difficult to return until after Sinulog. I will not have to resign. I will return to reassure investors and supporters, brief my staff, visit my ailing mother and attend to other personal matters,” he said of his three-day visit later this week.
Osmeña also assured Cebuanos that he is not in danger at present.
“(But) although I am not in immediate danger, my doctors will require me to be treated to chemotherapy and followed by surgery,” he said.
Osmeña left Cebu last Oct. 8 to seek a second opinion on the malignant tumor found in his urinary bladder, and to seek treatment.
He earlier had a surgical procedure to remove the tumor at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and may have to undergo another surgery to remove his bladder.
For the Soca on Saturday, Fernandez said that the mayor has given instructions to invite urban poor groups, occupants of Province-owned lots in the city, City Hall and barangay officials and employees. (LCR)
