THE Office of the Ombudsman has junked the motion for reconsideration that former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña filed against Mayor Michael Rama and five other city officials over the sale of lots at the South Road Properties (SRP).
Osmeña’s complaint stemmed from the sale of Lot 8 to the SM-Ayala Consortium, and Lots 7 and 17 to JG Summit and Filinvest Group, with a total lot area of 455,769 square meters during Rama’s second term on Aug. 7, 2015.
The Ombudsman denied Osmeña’s motion for “lack of merit.”
It pointed out that Osmeña failed to provide new evidence that would affect its earlier decision dismissing the former mayor’s complaint after it found no grounds that the respondents committed graft and corruption when the City sold the lots.
Osmeña, in a text message to SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, said he already expected the Ombudsman to deny his motion, adding that his fight would not end there.
“I will challenge all the way up,” he said.
Aside from Rama, also included in Osmeña’s complaint is former city legal officer Jerone Castillo, former city administrator Lucelle Mercado, former city treasurer Diwa Cuevas, former city budget officer Marietta Gumia and former city accountant Mark Rossel Salomon.