Cebu City Restores Aid for Surigao, Not for Ormoc

While Surigao will get their P2 million financial aid from the Cebu City government, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will not change his mind for Ormoc City.

Osmena, in his Facebook post Monday, gave a timeline to what happened and why the city has had enough with Ormoc.

He said four days after the devastating July 6 earthquake that hit Ormoc, he immediately issued a memorandum directing his consultant Alvin Dizon and Department of Public Services head Roberto Cabarubias to conduct a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) in Ormoc.

Shortly after, Dizon submitted his PDNA report to the city, which Osmena had approved for the release of the P10 million for the purchase of generator sets for the water pumps “so the Ormocanons would have access to water even in the absence of electricity.”

In August 1, the Cebu City Council approved the resolution allowing for the release of the funds, and on September 13, the city invited Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez to officially receive the check in Cebu. Osmena said, “Mayor Gomez fails to attend.”

From September 14 to October 5, he said his office made “several attempts to communicate with Mayor Gomez’s office and set another schedule for the turnover to no avail.”

On October 6, the city was able to contact Gomez’s office and agreed to reset the schedule of the turnover to October 23. However, for the second time, for some reason, the mayor cancelled his trip to Cebu.

“Instead of a personal appearance, Mayor Gomez’s office requested Cebu City to deposit the money to their LGU’s bank account. Despite basically being told ‘just send the money,’ I accede to the request,” Osmena explained.

But as per advice of the City Legal, he said he agreed to deposit the money, but on the condition that Ormoc enter a memorandum of agreement with Cebu City, if its mayor cannot sign an official receipt.

Last October 24, Cebu City sent the MOA to Ormoc, but despite several follow-ups, there was no official response from the other party.

“Two cancellations in two months. Even after we agree to ‘just send the money,’ we get no cooperation. If Mayor Gomez cannot even grant the simple courtesy properly receiving aid, then we will help the people of Surigao and Marawi instead. They probably need it more anyway,” he said.

Cebu City had allocated P10 million for Ormoc, but has decided to give the aid to the soldiers of Marawi City.

“We want to help our brother Ormocanons. We’ve helped them before. The affection the Cebuanos have for the Ormocanons is well-established. Just ask anyone who remembers the flood in 1991. But Ormoc’s mayor is making it very difficult,” said Osmena.