IT was only five months ago when residents of Barangay Ermita threw angry words at Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña after the latter made some controversial comments on the ambush that killed Ermita village chief Felicisimo Rupinta.

But the hostility from months ago was drowned by the clamor of families displaced by an early morning blaze that gutted more than 300 houses in Sitios Kawit and Ermita Proper last Monday.

Supporters and critics alike went to Osmeña as soon as the mayor and Councilor Joy Augustus Young entered the local sports complex to visit the fire survivors on Wednesday morning.

The mayor distributed P5,000 worth of personal cash to the children of displaced families. Each child received P50.

“That’s only for their ice cream or to buy a snack. It’s just a little assistance,” Osmeña told reporters. “It’s very hot now.”

The mayor also visited the wake of the three children who died in the fire and personally donated around P2,000.

Aside from this, he gave 90 tents with a capacity of at least six persons each, and said he will be sending his staff to distribute packs of chocolate drinks.

Around P10,000 was also donated by the mayor for the purchase of waterproof canvasses the survivors can use as temporary shelter.

Come anytime, he says

The bereaved families of the children who died will also receive around P10,000 each in burial cash assistance from the City Government.

Despite Osmeña and Ermita’s rough relationship, the mayor said his office is open for the barangay council to visit.

“I’m willing to sit down with them, of course. If they have a grievance, they can come to my office anytime,” he told reporters.

Osmeña also belied speculations that he is using the calamity in Ermita as a way to campaign for candidates of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.

“I am not campaigning. It is my job (as mayor). Everything I do, I’m campaigning, cheating, stealing and everything you want to me to be. I am not a candidate. I am just trying to help. I’m the mayor and just taking care of them. They (kids) are not even voters,” he added.

The mayor said he was awaiting the official damage assessment and would monitor what else the survivors might need, even as the City processes its financial assistance for them.

Although they did not meet, Barangay Captain Mark Rizaldy Miral welcomed the mayor’s visit.

“Pasalamat ta ana kay natabangan gyud niya ang atong mga (I thank him for helping our) affected constituents. We’re open to meeting with the mayor. Friends ra nato ang tanan,” he told reporters in a separate interview.

He added that the barangay has P450,000 in its calamity funds and some P112,500 from this will be used to purchase housing materials that will be distributed to the survivors.

A fire survivor himself, Miral said his group and the other political aspirants have all agreed to work together and set aside their political differences to focus on their constituents in this trying time. Although the Ermita Elementary School has been designated as one of the evacuation centers, this will not affect the elections on Monday since the barangay’s polling precinct is in the Cebu City Central School. (With Ilveya Nava, CNU Intern)