Tomas Osmeña
Tomas Osmeña | |
|---|---|
| File:Tomas Osmeña.jpg | |
| Preceded by | Alvin Garcia |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Bando Osmeña - Pundok Kauswagan |
| Spouse | Margarita Lim Vargas |
Tomas "Tommy" de la Rama Osmeña (born April 26 1948) is a politician in the Philippines. He is currently a Mayor. He was elected Mayor for the first time in 1988. He was re-elected Mayor in the 2004 Philippine elections.
Early life
Tomas or “Tommy”, as he is fondly called, is the son of the late Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr. and Lourdes dela Rama Osmeña, the grandson of former Philippine President Sergio Osmeña Sr. and the younger sibling of Senator Sergio Osmeña III. Married to Margarita Lim Vargas, their union is blessed with their son Miguel.
He spent his high school years in Sacred Heart School for Boys and earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Agro-Economics from Xavier University, Cagayan De Oro City. He went on for further graduate studies in Finance, Management and International Trade in the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA.
He not only excelled in the realm of public service but practically in all his endeavors. Coming from a family where politics and leadership is a natural dominion, his management and leadership skills were honed at a very young age.[1]
Business career
In 1972, he worked as the Vice-President in a Los Angeles-based company, SEROS, Inc. He also became a financial analyst for Foreign Credit Insurance Association, the exclusive operating arm of the Export-Import Bank of United States wherein he was engaged in the political and economic play of the export credit accounts of a number of major US banks and exporters across 12 western states.
For years, he also served as the Vice-President of the Apex Realty and Developers in California. His hectic work schedule, however, did not prevent him from participating in the activities of various civic organizations in Los Angeles. In fact he was even once selected as Vice-President of the “Club Filipino” in Los Angeles, California. He also became the moral fiber of numerous activities and programs of Cebuano organizations in Los Angeles.[2]
Political career
When he came back to Cebu in the year 1988, he vied for the mayoralty and was hailed to office even without the backing of a party or endorsement by a national office.
In his first term, he took the challenge of bringing Cebu to its grandeur by becoming the chairman of the Metro Cebu Development Project (MCDP). As was expected of a natural winner, he was again applauded for acquiring over P2 billion worth of foreign assisted projects for Metro Cebu.
In 1990, he was elected as the National Executive Vice-President of the League of City Mayors of the Philippines. On that same year, he was chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men|Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in the Philippines by the Philippine Jaycees and the Gerry Roxas Foundation, Inc.
In the 1992 elections, he again won and was hailed to office together with his Vice-Mayoralty candidate and fifteen of his sixteen party mates for the council seats. He was also elected on a mass motion as President of the League of City Mayors of the Philippines to serve until the year 1995. He also accepted the position of being the Chairman of the Regional Development Council for Central Visayas.
He championed numerous innovative endeavors for development and advancement; proof worth noting is the South Reclamation Project- the largest multi-billion project in the history of local governance. He also won several Galing Pook Awards.[3]
Vigilante-killings issue
The unsolved killings in the Philippines, including the spate of vigilante-style executions in Cebu City, have alarmed officials of the Commission on Human Rights.
The CHR said the unsolved summary executions in the country might affect the membership of the Philippines in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
After he expressed his concern on the increasing crime rate of Cebu City, he told the local media that he's willing to give rewards to persons who can kill criminals.
The series of vigilante-style killings started in December 22, 2004 and the victims are mainly those people who have criminal records.[4]
The vigilantes are usually masked, ride a motorcycle in tandem and use a gun to kill their targets[5]
Since that day, at least 176 people have been killed vigilante style, mostly by men on motorcycles, armed with .45 pistols and with their faces covered.[6]
Cebu City Police Office’s Chief Melvin Gayotin reported a reduction in crime by 22 percent.
But Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama said the City Government shoulders P50 million in wages for casual employees detailed with CCPO and donated equipment yet the police failed to solve the summary killings.
The vice mayor was not happy with the report because even if the crime rate decreased, vigilante killings still continued.
SRP issue
He had called then Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas a landgrabber for staking a claim over 53.44 hectares of the South Reclamation Project.
Talisay City Attorney Aurora Econg earlier vowed that they will question any special patents or title that will be issued to Cebu City.
SRP manager Nigel Paul Villarete, in an interview, dismissed Econg's claims that Talisay City is not claiming ownership, only jurisdiction.
Osmeña insisted that they are indeed after the ownership of the 53.44-hectare portion of the SRP.
The Cebu City Government is expected to pay 288,389,482 million yen or P150.28 million, a portion of the interest, to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), conduit for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
The Cebu City Hall accounting records show the SRP loan has ballooned from the original P2.2 billion in 1996 to P4.33 billion in 2005.
Osmeña said that Cebu City has to forgo the plan buying heavy equipments to develop roads in upland barangays, as it has to use the general funds for loan payments.
Unless Cebu City acquires special patents or titles for the SRP this year-and, after doing so, markets the reclaimed area to investors-it will continue tapping its general funds until year 2025 to pay for the loan.
Cebu City needs to raise funds in foreign currency by leasing the properties to investors. That way, if there are drastic changes in the foreign exchange rate, it will have enough to pay the loan.
Cebu City officials blamed difficulties in getting titles and delays in marketing the 295-hectare SRP on the Talisay City Government, which is disputing Cebu City's application for the titling of the said reclaimed land.[7]
Talisay cityhood
The Cebu City Government, under the administration of Osmeña, filed a case against Talisay City on August 2004 for alleged irregularities in its becoming a chartered city, set the scenario for a big battle ahead on the South Reclamation Project.
Osmeña looked into the demographics and land area which were used as basis for Talisay’s cityhood.
The municipality first applied for cityhood in 1998 and was eventually granted a charter in 2002.
Talisay City counsel Aurora Econg said she has the supporting documents to show that Talisay’s cityhood application was legal and official.
But with his move to keep the SRP, such documents were contested in the court.
Jurisdiction issues have since besieged the SRP when Talisay City claimed a 53.44-hectare portion of the project, claiming that it has encroached on the reclaimed land.
Talisay City, however, made the claim after the SRP was completed and ready for sale to investors.
Talisay City wants the portion back, but Cebu City won’t budge and Osmeña has severed sister-city ties with Talisay City if only to keep the entire SRP intact.
Cebu City’s plan to file a suit against Talisay on its alleged "sham cityhood" came as surveyors discovered that a municipal boundary monument — MBM 30 — said to belong to Talisay City, was right inside the SRP.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which conducted the survey, said MBM 30 is located before Km. 10 of the SRP just after the second bridge as one approaches Cebu City from Talisay.[8]
But on May 10, 2006, the Philippine Court of Appeals has dismissed Osmeña’s petition to nullify the cityhood of Talisay. The court pointed out that the “belated action” raises questions as to its motive.
The 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Apolinario D. Bruselas Jr. of the court’s 18th Division, declared that Republic Act 8979, the law creating Talisay City, “does not suffer from any constitutional or statutory infirmities.”[9]
References
- ^ http://cebucity.gov.ph/city_gov/mayor/profile.html
- ^ http://www.i-site.ph/Databases/LGUs/Mayors/2001-2004/Visayas/personal/osmena-personal.html
- ^ http://www.cebucity.gov.ph/Index.php?pageno=3
- ^ http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/ht/ht006321.htm
- ^ http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/10/21/news/what.does.tolentino.have.on.murders.in.cebu.reliable.but.raw.information.html
- ^ http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/11/08/news/dads.question.cops.on.killings.html
- ^ http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2005/02/19/cebu.city.needs.p150m.to.pay.for.srp.loan.html
- ^ http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/ht/ht004623.htm
- ^ http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/net/2006/05/17/appeals.court.upholds.city.status.of.talisay.html