BOPK Candidates Withdraw Appearance in Forums

Mayoralty aspirant Tomas R. Osmeña announced Saturday that all candidates under the Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kasuwagan (BOPK) have decided not to appear before any candidate forum because it will only give advantage to their opponents.

The announcement from the lawmaker came one night before the holding of a candidate forum sponsored by the youth sectors on Saturday where top candidates of various political groups in Cebu City and province had been invited to appear.

When asked as to the reason behind the BOPK decision, Osmeña said “because we are always out talk, they claim for everything. People already know what i did, I dont have to say anything. I became five term-mayor and still do not know me?” Osmeña added even if the BOPK candidates will not appear on candidate forum, they will answer all questions from the media during press conference and interviews.

Osmeña said he is sure that the people of Cebu City already know him during his 15 years as mayor of the city from 1988 to 1994 and from 2001 to 2010.

The south district congressman said “They are already losing, they need all the attention they can get, they are losing 80 percent of the barangays so they are now using media for their last ditch to stand to change the time so they are making ridiculous claim that they have the support of 76 barangay officials. (Laugh) There are 640 barangay officials in the city.”

Meanwhile, Osmeña also announced that he will be strongly endorsing four senatorial candidates from the Liberal Party. They are Ramon Magsaysay Jr. the namesake of the late President Magsaysay for giving Cebu City several water projects.

He will also campaign for reelectionist Senator Chiz Escudero for giving multicabs to all 80 barangays of Cebu City, aside from the medical assistance to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) like Cynthia Villar. Osmeña will also endorse the candidacy of Edgardo Angara for giving the city infrastructure projects worth millions of pesos.