Once he is back: Tomas to focus on sale of South Road Properties

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña, who is expected to be back more than a week from now for a brief vacation, said he does not have any major project to implement when he officially takes back the reins of the City Hall on March 10.

What the mayor plans to do during his three-week stay in Cebu City is to help in the negotiation with the prospective buyers for the sale of more lots at the South Road Properties (SRP).



The barangay officials in the city also want to hold their first quarterly assembly while Osmeña is here so he could attend and possibly give them instructions on how they could be of help in making the city economically healthy.

The mayor earlier announced that there are a lot of businessmen who want to invest at the 295-hectare facility, but the city is choosy on the kind of business that investors want to put up by making sure they could generate employment for Cebuanos.

Osmeña, who is still in Houston, Texas for the treatment of the cancer in his urinary bladder, said there is an investor who wished to build a huge hospital at the SRP, and said the hospital company is accredited with the US-based insurance companies.

With that, Osmeña expects that many of the retirees from the United States may decide to stay in Cebu City because they would not find difficulty anymore if they need medical care.

According to him, the Cebu-based hospitals are accredited with any of the US-based insurance companies where many US-Filipino Americans are insured.

After his seventh chemotherapy session, Osmeña is required to rest for two weeks before he will undergo a complete physical check-up and then surgical operation will follow to finally remove the part of his urinary bladder that is afflicted with cancer.

The mayor has asked permission from his attending doctors to allow him to return to Cebu City during his two-week rest. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)