Skip to content
The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

Title

Name

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Mindanao
  • Visayas
  • National
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • SciTech
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Regional Advertising Rates
    • Contact Us
    • Profile
  • Home
  • Visayas
  • Osmena asks Duterte to run for President
  • Featured
  • Visayas

Osmena asks Duterte to run for President

Chief Editor May 16, 2015
CEBU CITY – Former Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmena formally met with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to personally ask him to seek the presidency.
Osmena personally made his request to Duterte in a one-on-one meeting late Saturday night at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.
The meeting was reported by the Cebu media only on Wednesday after Duterte had left for Davao after various speaking engagements.
“This is it. It’s about time to have a Cebuano or Visayan-speaking president who will free southern Philippines from imperial Manila,” Osmena was quoted in an interview with Cebu Daily News (CDN).The same report said Osmena “fully supports” Duterte’s desire to adopt a federal form of government which seeks to decentralize and speed up the development of the countryside.
Osmena made unsuccessful bids first for the vice-presidency with Lakas under Pres. Fidel Ramos in 1992 and then for president under his own Promdi party in 1998 had long been advocating federalism.Duterte in fact acknowledged that Osmena is one of three people who requested him to go around the country to keep the torch of federalism burning. The others are former Assemblyman Ruben Canoy and ex-Sen. Aquilino Pimental Jr.
Osmena said he fully supports Duterte in his advocacy for a federal form of government which will decentralize and speed up development of areas outside Metro Manila.
Emerging from the one-on-one meeting, Duterte expressed gratitude for Osmena’s vote of confidence but remained uncommitted to the presidency.
The 76-year-old Osmena sent tongues wagging recently when he transferred his place of registration from Cebu City to Balamban town.CDN columnist Malou Guanzon wrote that apparently political observers don’t buy Osmena’s explanation that the transfer was mainly for convenience.“Just the same, he neither confirmed nor denied speculations that he is running for Cebu governor or as mayor of Balamban town,” Guanzon noted.
A journalist from another paper who declined to be named said the possibility that Osmena will run to carry Duterte’s banner in Cebu is “very strong”.Duterte’s Cebu roots is unquestioned considering that his father, the late Davao Gov. Vicente Duterte, once served as mayor of Danao City in Cebu.The late Cebu City Mayor Ronald Duterte, son of former Mayor Ramon Duterte Sr., was a cousin of the Davao mayor.
The reporter said this could tilt the balance for Duterte in Cebu which is known to be clannish when election time comes. Duterte also counts among his relatives the politically-active Durano, Almendras and Patalinghug clans in Cebu which will be a potential headache to politicians who will support another candidate over a relative.
“If Lito O is forced to run to banner Duterte in Cebu, it will be an intriguing fight,” the reporter added.
Meanwhile, former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena showed up at Duterte’s media forum at the Adnama building Monday. Ex-Mayor Osmena, who does not exactly see eye-to-eye with the former governor, already expressed his support for the federal movement Duterte is pushing for.
The former mayor attended the first Mindanao federalism summit in Davao where he expressed his disappointments with the existing highly-centralized form of government.
“If the Osmenas rally as one behind Mayor Duterte in Cebu, he will be formidable candidate for president no matter how you look at it,” the reporter predicted.
But the possibility of political adversaries to forget differences, like those of the Pimentels, Zubiris and Canoys in Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro, to back up the presidential bid of Duterte and his Federalist agenda, might also happened in vote-rich Cebu. (Chito A. Fuentes)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/ and http://www.mindanaoexaminer.net/
Share The News
fb-share-icon
Tweet 20

Continue Reading

Previous: US special forces kill ISIL’s Abu Sayyaf in Syria raid – Al Jazeera
Next: Malaysia continues search for 2 abducted citizens

Related News

CSPP-Victorias
  • Visayas

Victorias LGU to subsidize the SSS contributions of over 500 health workers, nutrition scholars

Editor May 29, 2025
Bountiful-harvest
  • Featured
  • Mindanao Post

Aquaponics to conservation: How a young farmer is growing change

Editor May 28, 2025
BLT-1
  • Business
  • Featured

Joy of Sharing: Jollibee Group Foundation Marks 20 Years of Impactful Partnerships and Progress

Editor May 22, 2025

Trending News

JBL Unleashes Next-Level Audio in Davao JBL 1
  • Business
  • Technology

JBL Unleashes Next-Level Audio in Davao

June 6, 2025
PH mangoes land in Rome in bid to win over Italian market Mango1 2
  • Business
  • National

PH mangoes land in Rome in bid to win over Italian market

June 3, 2025
DOTr orders closure, raps vs. AirAsia Move over excessive air fares AirAsia-MOVE-app 3
  • National

DOTr orders closure, raps vs. AirAsia Move over excessive air fares

June 2, 2025
DOT assures Korean community of strengthened tourist safety measures Seo-In-Guk-&-Christina-Frasco 4
  • National
  • Tourism

DOT assures Korean community of strengthened tourist safety measures

June 2, 2025
SSS welcomes UnionDigital Bank President and CEO – talks about partnership opportunities for micro lending, for overseas Filipinos, and for transfer of technology uniondigital-bank 5
  • National

SSS welcomes UnionDigital Bank President and CEO – talks about partnership opportunities for micro lending, for overseas Filipinos, and for transfer of technology

June 2, 2025
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Blog
Copyright © 2025. The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper. All Rights Reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.