“MUSICIAN OSMEÑA DISQUALIFIED VS MAYOR OSMEÑA”

By Tonton Alcos Antogop

Another Osmena was rendered disqualified to run against incumbent Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena.

Paulino Osmena, Jr., 51, declared in his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) as “musician”, a livelihood which was considered not enough to support his campaign, “a city-wide campaign that requires enormous financial costs.”

NewsPH.org found out that Paulino a.k.a. “Jun Osmena is indeed the keyboard and band eader of the group called “Remix and Revival” that performs in a casino in the uptown area.

“Respondent indicated in his CoC that he is a musician. He failed to allege any other means of livelihood or sourced of funds to support his campaign xxxx xxxx xxxx Thus, the Commission is constrained to conclude that respondent has no capacity to wage a city wide campaign,” a portion of the seven-page resolution by the Comelec 2nd division provided to NewsPH.org said.

The resolution was penned by Presiding Commissioner Luie Tito Guia and concurred by Commissioners Antonio Kho, Jr. and Socorro Inting.

He is thus declared as nuisance candidate, citing other basis as Paulino “neither belong to nor was nominated by any political party,” and “failed to show that he has organizational network and machinery to launch a campaign.”

“WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Commission (Second Division) RESOLVED as it hereby RESOLVE to DECLARE PAULINO L. OSMENA, JR., a NUISANCE CANDIDATE, and to DENY DUE COURSE TO AND CANCEL HIS CERTIFICATE OF CANDIDACY,” the resolution dated Feb. 1, 2019 further said.

Mayor Tomas Osmena himself was the petitioner against Paulino who was not readily available for his comment at the time of this posting.

His name however will still appear in the official ballot but it will not already be counted and hence will be a stray vote, Comelec officials said.

Mayor Osmena will face Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella along with two others, independent candidates Edwin Dayondon and Junry Concepcion.

Labella is the standard bearer of Partido Barug, an affiliate of the administration PDP-LABAN while Osmena of Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) filed his CoC with a Certificate of Nomination (CONA) from Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).

About The Author

Antonio Antogop Jr

The author is a Cebu based journalist who used to write for Cebu Daily News, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Businessworld, among others. He also had stints for several radio stations in the Visayas and Mindanao regions and currently works for iNews.Ph

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