FORMER mayor Alvin Garcia will not win in a single barangay on May 10, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña predicted yesterday.
Osmeña, however, would not say whether his prediction is based on the result of a survey of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).
“For the benefit of all of you, and I will just end there, I’ll make a prediction. Alvin will not win in a single barangay, any barangay, including Lahug. I will not comment if it’s a survey, you just take it for what it’s worth,” he told a news conference yesterday.
But Garcia, standard bearer of the opposition Kugi Uswag Sugbo (Kusug), said that it is Osmeña who will not win in any precinct in the south district and that opposition candidate Jonathan Guardo will be elected congressman.
The former mayor said results of a recent survey by a national candidate were in their favor and that he will win by a large margin over BOPK’s Vice Mayor Michael Rama.
He believes that he will win in all the precincts in the north district but may lose in some barangays in the south that are known to be the Ramas’ bailiwick.
“My own prediction is that he will not win in a single precinct in the south. I have been going around there and from my own observation and according to the survey, Atan (Guardo) will beat him. I’ll probably win in all north district barangays and maybe I will lose in a few in the south, maybe in Basak San Nicolas,” Garcia said, when sought for comment.
That, he said, is the reason why Osmeña has resorted to giving away cash to constituents, “because they are afraid of losing.”
Despite his prediction, Osmeña said BOPK will campaign even harder to counter what he calls Kusug’s dirty tactics.
In the south, he said he will continue to work harder, even if he stands to win in the elections.
“I can tell you one thing, I don’t intend to lose anywhere. But I will not be so arrogant to say that Guardo will lose. I will just fight. When people ask me how I’m doing, I just say I’m almost winning. That’s my standard reply. If he takes that as a sign of weakness, fine. He will find out the hard way,” the mayor said.
He admitted that this campaign will be tougher for the administration candidates who are running under the Liberal Party because of the tactics of Kusug and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), which Garcia also heads in Cebu.
At the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Manila yesterday, the second division dismissed Vice Mayor Michael Rama’s petition to declare Dorotheo Rama of the LDP as a nuisance candidate. Garcia is the provincial chairman of LDP.
The vice mayor welcomed the Comelec decision, since Dorotheo is now officially stricken off the list of candidates for city mayor.
Since Dorotheo already withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) before the petition was filed, the commissioners did not find a reason to resolve the petition.
“Having withdrawn his COC, the respondent cannot anymore be considered as a candidate. Hence, the resolution of this case will have no more practical use or value...the petition is hereby dismissed,” the ruling read.
As for the BOPK’s petition to declare as nuisance candidates the Kusug bets who have the same family names as BOPK candidates, Vice Mayor Rama said Comelec has yet to schedule the promulgation.