Rama made the statement in response to issues surrounding the non-renewal of service of hundreds of contractual and job order workers whose contracts ended on Sept. 30, 2022.
No official of the City, including Rama, could give or confirm the exact number of casual or job order workers whose contracts were not renewed after Sept. 30, 2022. There have been reports, though, that more or less 1,000 individuals were affected.
“Mangunay ko ron og tan-aw kay inyong i-endorse, inyong ipa-renew kawatan. Ako nang ibutang sa inyong mga nawong. Kamo, barugi na ninyo kay inyong kontra ako na,” Rama told the barangay captains and other officials who have endorsed names from the list of those workers whose contracts were not renewed.
(I will look at the names myself, because the ones you endorse, the ones whose contracts you wish renewed, are thieves. I will throw that in your face. Stand up because the enemy you must face is now me.)
“Nganong manghatag man mo og kawatan? Ang gipangita nato sa Singapore-like Cebu City kugihan, dili tapulan, dili sige absent. Panso human tua sa mall, out pauli sa ila way gitrabaho,” Rama added.
(Why do you give me thieves? What we are looking for in Singapore-like Cebu City are the industrious, not lazy, not the ones who are always absent. They punch in, then they go to the mall or go home without doing any work.)
SunStar Cebu contacted the office of Association of Barangay Councils president Franklyn Ong for his reaction but was informed that the Kasambagan barangay captain could not give a comment as he was still in Korea.
Rama defended those whom the City’s selection committee had kept amid reports that only members of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) political party, led by former mayor Tomas Osmeña, had been retained.
“Ang mga nagbuot mga BOPK. Hoy, BOPK baya ta tanan. Kinsa may dili BOPK dinhi? Ako BOPK dili ko maot. Gikan ko pagsulod 1992 BOPK. Di na lang ta moestorya sa kagahapon kay naa may nahitabo,” Rama said during his speech before hundreds of senior citizens who attended the Senior Citizens Month celebration at Plaza Sugbo Tuesday, Oct. 4.
(The ones who made the selection were BOPK. Hey, we are all from BOPK. Who is not from BOPK here? I’m from BOPK, and I’m not a bad person. Since 1992, I have been with BOPK. Let’s not talk about the past anymore because something happened.)
After 19 years with BOPK, Rama left BOPK in 2011, fed up with the talk that BOPK founder Osmeña had disowned him. In 2012, Rama formed rival group Team Rama, which later became Partido Barug.
“I will take it and take over the whole process, so that I will be able to live the quality. I am not after the quantity,” said the mayor.
Rama said he had already learned about the death of Jerry Lauron, 51, brother of Cambinocot Barangay Captain Reynald Lauron.
Jerry died of a heart attack on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, hours after he was informed that he would no longer have a job on Monday, Oct. 3, as his contract had not been renewed by the city government, said Reynald in an interview with SunStar Cebu.
The barangay captain said his brother had been emotionally affected after hearing about his impending unemployment.
Reynald, who had been supporting Rama since he became barangay captain in 2013, lamented that his political alliance with Rama would be greatly affected after what happened to his brother.
“I’m not going to just let this incident pass. There is now a gap. To still give my full support to him? Not anymore,” Reynald said in Cebuano Monday, Oct. 3. (LMY, CTL)