Is there a looming plot to oust suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama as president of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP)?
Rama, who is serving a six-month preventive suspension, believed so, as he told members of the media at a press conference Friday, July 19, 2024, that Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez, the national chairman of the LCP, called a national executive board meeting on Friday afternoon.
He said that the agenda included “resolving an urgent internal matter” and had no specific topic to discuss.
Rama, however, questioned the validity of the meeting.
He said that the invitations and notices sent to the board members had not followed their policy, adding that sending out of invitations should be done at least 15 days before the scheduled meeting.
The notices were sent out on July 17, 2024, in which Rama said that they allegedly violated the LCP’s by-laws and constitution, particularly Section 6 of Article 9.
The sections that any regular or special national executive board Meeting might be called for the national president, or through the written consensus of the regular members upon the need arises, according to Rama.
Upon discovering the notices, Rama sent a letter to Mayor Benitez, expressing his opinion and explaining that any resolution or conclusion that came up after the meeting might face legal infirmities.
He added that he would also not attend the special national executive board meeting, as he did not know if he was invited.
Moreover, he will not recognize it.
Before the meeting, there was reportedly a suggestion and even an advisory from the LCP, urging Rama to take his “leave of absence” from his duties and responsibilities as an executive officer of the LCP.
The request was regarding his preventive suspension served on May 10, 2024.
The request also refers to a letter from Negros Association of Chief Executives (ACE) on May 10, 2024, urging Benitez, who was a member, to perform the role of Rama, stating that the latter will be absent for the next six months.
Rama replied with a board resolution that he would continue to perform his role.
Members of the said Negros ACE was even composed of municipal mayors and not city mayors, he added.
Rama said that the request for his “leave of absence” has no legal basis as his preventive suspension did not stop him from being elected mayor of Cebu City.
“I am not being punished. I am only put on preventive, walang effect ito sa operation ng LCP (there is no effect in the operation of LCP),” Rama said.
He added that the LCP Board cannot remove him from his post, but rather a consensus of the members through voting in the general assembly.
“Why would I take a leave? I have been coming here, signing checks, sitting in the office, signing letters. In other words, I am performing,” Rama said.
SunStar Cebu tried to reach Benitez for a comment, but he said that he would come out with an official statement.
Rama was elected president of the LCP during its general assembly on July 21, 2022, after garnering 96 out of 110 votes from city mayors.
The LCP was formed on July 25, 1987, through an executive order issued by the late President Corazon Aquino.
Its primary purpose is to address issues affecting city government administration, as formalized in Section 499 of the Local Government Code of the Philippines.
As of 2019, the league consisted of 146 members.
Rama also stressed that his “preventive suspension” was unjust and did not follow due process, particularly in the case involving four unpaid employees at Cebu City Hall.
In his audio-visual presentation, Rama and seven other city hall officials were preventively suspended, however, they experienced “total darkness” and felt “helpless” during the serving of preventive suspension from the Office of the Ombudsman.
“Wala akong kasalanan. Walang wala (I have done nothing wrong. Nothing),” Rama said.
He added that the case was first docketed in the Ombudsman Visayas in March 2024, but it was later re-docketed to its Central Office in April 2024, a few days before his suspension.
He believes that it might be related to the prayer rally in support of former president Rodrigo Duterte held in Cebu City on Feb. 25, 2024. / EHP