WHY has BDO Unibank Inc. obtained another court order gagging Mayor Tomas Osmeña and stopping him from closing branches in Cebu City? Local news reports about the court order are mum about the mayor’s latest show-cause order he posted in his Facebook page last week.
In February, we know it was about BDO Magallanes paying only P2,000 in business taxes. I read in a Cebuano paper that small Moro entrepreneurs in Colon and Manalili streets complained why they get to pay from P5,000 to P10,000 annually.
This time he ordered the manager of BDO branch at Osmeña Blvd. to explain why the branch should not be closed for declaring a gross income of only P6,989.00 in 2015. In effect, the branch paid 35 pesos only when it applied for a business permit for 2016.
While political opponents kept calling Osmeña a bully, the mayor said he will go to the Supreme Court and the Office of the President against the alleged tax evader.
u2022••
The mayor, nevertheless, is winning his battle at the Cebu City Council. An amused resident of Sambag 1 said through FB Messenger that Osmeña did not just win over Councilor Jerry Guardo. During a BOPK barangay gathering the other night, the emcee was somebody who anchored a pro-Rama radio program.
Osmeña detractors kept harping on the so-called lack of principles and loyalty of Team Rama turncoats, namely Councilors Guardo, Hanz Abella, and Dave Tumulak.
Mas grabi pa kuno si Hanz ug Dave kay nag-una pagbalitok. But it could also be that Hans and Dave saw what’s wrong with Team Rama early. I don’t think a political group of decent men headed by somebody President Rodrigo Duterte named a “drug protector” would last long.
u2022••
Cooperatives in Cebu are preparing to join nationwide actions against moves to repeal the tax exemptions for coops. Ordinary Filipinos form and join cooperatives to cope with and eventually get out of poverty. The exemption supposedly manifests government commitment to address poverty. Our legislators should instead grant more incentives for coops. Let us support the coops.
u2022••
House Speaker Bebot Alvarez and Rep. Tonyboy Floirendo are two powerful men who apparently cannot rein in their respective girlfriends.
I thought, at first, they were fighting for political turf in Davao. It might even be schism along more national political lines. Floirendo is said to be moving for the ouster of Alvarez as House Speaker and replace him with former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Speaker Alvarez is likewise closer to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano while Rep. Floirendo has always been behind former senator Bongbong Marcos.
It seems the Bebot-Tonyboy feud began with the shouting match between Jennifer Vicencio and Cathy Binag during last year’s Masskara festival in Bacolod City.
Mistresses are supposedly women that machos would prefer to hide from the limelight. Of course, manghambog occasionally. But the women of Bebot and Tonyboy are of the more aggressive kind that spark political wildfires. (@anol_cebu in Twitter)