City to Honor Rama, Osmeña in Life-Size Statues

The life-sized bronze statues of the two great leaders in Cebu – former President Sergio Osmeña Sr. and Don Vicente Rama — will soon be constructed in front of Cebu City Hall building.

Mayor Michael Rama is pushing for the installation of the statues of his grandfather and that of former Cebuano president, grandfather of the then mayor and former Congressman Tomas R. Osmeña.

Osmeña, known as the “Grand Old Man” of Cebu, began his 42-long career in public service in 1904. Don Sergio served as Cebu’s youngest governor at 25, and four years later became the speaker of the First Philippine Assembly.

Then he assumed the presidency in August 1, 1944 when President Manuel Quezon died. He was the fourth president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Don Vicente Rama who used to be a senator authored the law that converted Cebu to a city from a mere town in 1937.

The Cebu City Council has already authorized the mayor to sign for the city the deed of donation with a private company for the installation of the statues free of charge.

The statues will be donated by the Insular Life Assurance Co., Ltd.

The agreement is that once the monuments would be put in place, the Cebu City government would be the one responsible to care for it, including repairs if in case it would sustain damages.

Councilor James Cuenco, chairman of the committee on tourism and author of the resolution, said Insular Life has commissioned the sculptor to create two individual life-size sculptural monuments depicting Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. and Don Vicente Rama’s importance and immense contribution to Cebu City.