CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama has appointed four more people to key posts at City Hall just nine days after he assumed the city’s top post following the death of mayor Edgardo Labella.
Aside from his two initial appointees, Rama also appointed lawyer Dominic Diño as his chief of staff; lawyer Homer Cabaral as resident ombudsman; lawyer Eugene Orbita as head of the City Legal Office and Dax Arcilla as head of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP).
Last week, Suzzane Ardosa, an engineer, was appointed by Rama as the new Cebu City administrator after her predecessor, lawyer Floro Casas Jr., resigned after Labella’s death.
Rama also appointed lawyer and former labor undersecretary Josephus Jimenez as consultant.
Prior to his new appointment, Diño had served as assistant city administrator during Rama’s term as mayor in 2016. Orbita was the dean of the University of the Visayas’ College of Criminology from 1996 to 2004.
Cabaral, on the other hand, was the village chief of Barangay Duljo Fatima from 1983 to 1987. He also served as regional director of the National Police Commission in Central Visayas starting from 1990 until his retirment in 2019.
Cabaral is also member of the reservist unit of the Philippine Air Force, holding a rank of lieutenant colonel.
Rama said part of Cabaral’s work as a resident ombudsman includes investigating City Hall officials and employees suspected to be involved in anomalies.
Rama also appointed Arcilla, who was his former chief of staff, to DWUP as its former head, Simeon Romarate, had resigned to run for public office. Romarate, a former radio drama actor, is running for city councilor in Cebu City’s South District under Partido Panaghiusa.
Rama told reporters that he has yet to appoint a new head for the City Assessor’s Office after its former head, Noel Wenceslao, resigned from his post to run for city councilor in Cebu City’s North District.
Wenceslao is running under Partido Barug.