CEBU CITY – Candidates vying for mayor of this city popularly known as the ‘Queen City of the South’ have called for peaceful and orderly elections as the campaign period officially got going on Friday.
The Commission on Election lists shows six candidates, including three independents, are gunning for the top position in Cebu City.
These are Edgar Concha Jr. (independent candidate), Juanito Luna (independent candidate), Margot Osmeña sa Bando Osmena Pundok Kasuwagan-Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, incumbent Mayor Michael Rama of Barug PDP-Laban, Cris Saavedra (independent candidate) and Dave Tumulak (independent candidate).
Tumulak and his supporters kicked off their campaign by attending a Mass at Holy Cross Parish, while the Barug-PDP Laban candidates heard Mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Osmeña and her teammates also attended a Mass at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu.
Saavedra for his part distributed flyers in the uptown area. He said he did away with holding a grand opening salvo to save expenses.
“My programs for the city include free housing for the poor, free medical, free education, employment, justice for all, and investigating corruption in the City Hall,” Saavedra said.
Osmena said she is hoping that what happened in the 2019 elections should not happen again this year.
“We pray that it will not happen again. The true will of the people should prevail. We signed a peace covenant the other day so I am hoping that we keep our word,” said Osmena.
Osmena was referring to incidents in 2019 wherein houses of some BOPK-allied barangay captains were strafed by unidentified gunmen.
Rama encouraged his fellow candidates and supporters to abide by the law.
“It’s important that keeping our cool should prevail,” Rama said.
Tumulak said it is important for the supporters of each candidate to remain calm and not get carried away by intense political competition.
“I am asking the people, especially the supporters of my opponents, to remain calm and allow peace to prevail. To our supporters, let us not engage in fight, let us maintain peace,” said Tumulak.