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Monday, November 24, 2008
2 top City Hall advisers offer to resign
CEBU CITY -- Following protocol, two high-ranking Cebu City Hall officials will submit their courtesy resignation letters to the acting mayor while Mayor Tomas Osmeña is on indefinite leave.
City Administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, considered as Osmeña’s alter ego, and City Planning and Development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete said they will express their intention to resign as a sign of respect and out of courtesy to Acting Mayor Michael Rama.
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Both officials said they have a good working relationship with the acting mayor, but they want to give Rama the chance to choose a city administrator and city planning officer he fully trusts.
Rama confirmed Sunday night that Fernandez brought up the matter after a breakfast meeting Sunday, but said he does not want to think or talk about the resignation of any city official at this time.
“Why should anyone resign? Remember that ang akong pagka-mayor acting ra (I’m only mayor in an acting capacity). And I don’t even have to think of resignation because there is no reason to resign. We all need them now and the more that we should be one at this time,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
City officials are busy with negotiations and transactions for important projects, including the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which Fernandez and Villarete are working on.
Both officials plan to submit their courtesy resignation letters on December 9 yet to give Rama time to make adjustments, if he decides to accept it.
“I had originally planned an irrevocable resignation but the acting mayor said it should not be irrevocable. It’s customary to submit a courtesy resignation because my position is one of trust and confidence, so it’s really up to him. Whether or not he will accept it is up to his discretion, I just had to let him know that I will only serve him at his own pleasure,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez, a close ally and confidante of Osmeña, was appointed city administrator since 2004, and is one of three City Hall officials whose term of office is coterminous with the mayor’s.
As the mayor’s alter ego, he also sits as chairman and representative of the mayor in the bids and awards committee, Cebu City Housing Board, Cebu City Market Authority, Joint Venture Selection Committee and other bodies.
In a phone interview Sunday night, he stressed that he has a good working relationship with Rama, and that there are no differences in management style or clash of opinions on certain matters.
“It’s really the custom; it’s protocol that I should offer to him my resignation. I will be happy to continue serving Acting Mayor Rama and the City but I feel that he should be offered the chance to choose a city administrator with whom he has full trust and confidence, in the same way that Mayor Osmeña was given that chance,” said Fernandez.
If Rama accepts his resignation, Fernandez said he will be happy to return to City Hall when Osmeña comes back from his urinary bladder cancer treatment in the US.
On Sunday night, Villarete also told Rama his decision to submit a courtesy resignation as a sign of respect for him, but the latter also declined.
Although his position as department head is permanent and not coterminous, he said he also wants to give Rama a free hand in choosing his own City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) chief, who he said handles matters that are highly confidential.
“What I’m going to submit is not an irrevocable resignation but a courtesy resignation. I sincerely hope Mike will disapprove it and let me continue what I’m doing with the BRT and climate change concerns. It’s offered out of respect and courtesy,” Villarete told Sun.Star Cebu.
Villarete is also the one directly negotiating with the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency for projects at the SRP and other areas of technical cooperation.
“Even if I’m a permanent employee, there is no harm in submitting a courtesy resignation because many of the things I’m doing now are highly confidential with the mayor. It’s a token of courtesy that I will be submitting my letter,” he continued.
Fernandez said he already informed Osmeña of his plans through the mayor’s wife, Margot, after his meeting with Rama Sunday. But he also assured them that he will return to his post as soon as the mayor comes back.
Osmeña’s chemotherapy in the US is expected to last three to five months.
If his resignation is accepted, Fernandez said he will return to Pagtambayayong Foundation Inc., the non-government organization that he helped put up to assist the urban poor in their housing needs.
Before his appointment as city administrator, he was also chief of the Division for Welfare of the Urban Poor, and was Osmeña’s consultant on poverty alleviation before that.
Fernandez, a veteran community organizer and former presidential urban poor commissioner, was also one of the campaign managers of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) in the 2001 and 2004 elections.
He helped install all members of the BO-PK-dominated council in office through his influence and close connections with the urban poor and various communities in the depressed areas in Cebu City.
Apart from functions designated by the mayor and the City Council, the Local Government Code requires the city administrator to be at the forefront of support services and help coordinate different services at City Hall. (LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (November 24, 2008 issue)
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