Cebu City mayor admits bribe offer from slain drug lord but says he turned it down

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña on Tuesday admitted that he was once offered bribe by slain high-profile drug suspect Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz but added he turned it down.

Interviewed by Cebu-based reporters, Osmeña, who is accused of receiving millions of pesos from Diaz, said he did not know how much the offer was because he had not been interested in it in the first place.

"One of my urban poor leaders came to me and said Jaguar wants to give me money. I don't know how much because I didn't ask...I'm not interested, so I don't know — P7 million, P5 million, P2 million, I don't know. I just said no," he said.

"That's not even worth discussing, that's why I don't even know the amount," he added.

In a text message, he said he was made aware of the supposed offer the day after what he believes is the September 2015 raid of a Diaz-owned compound in Cebu City.

The offer's antecedent was Jaguar's "hate" for former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama, Osmeña said.

"As far as Mr. Rama is concerned, I would bring the witness here who said that Jaguar hates Rama because he gave Rama already P10 million and now Rama is asking for P20 million. I'll bring the witness here. I was surprised," he said.

A report by The Freeman said Rama denied the allegation, which he called "theatrics."

Osmeña vs. Aguirre

Meanwhile, Osmeña dared Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to sue him over his alleged protection of drug lords.

"I'm not worried about Aguirre filing a case against me," he said. "Just tell him to stop announcing, just file."

Osmeña said Aguirre "is entitled to make a fool out of himself."

Aguirre has accused Osmeña of coddling drug lords, citing a witness affidavit from Reynaldo "Jumbo" Diaz, allegedly the bagman and cousin of Jaguar.

According to Aguirre, Jumbo alleged that Osmeña received "payola" from Diaz worth "P2 million for hospitalization expenses in 2013" and "P5 million during the 2016 elections."

The mayor had earlier denied this, and on Tuesday's interview said Jumbo, who he claimed was one of Jaguar's hitmen, had executed his affidavit under duress.

"You know the guy is forced to say whatever he's forced to say. They'll kill him... if you said I'm Satan, he'd sign that. He's been under their control. He has a very bad reputation as hitman. If he doesn't sign, he'll probably be shot," he said.

Feud

The Osmeña-Aguirre feud started after the mayor threatened graft and disbarment raps against the Justice secretary for allegedly meddling in the Cebu City government's tax cases against BDO Unibank and SM Prime Holdings.

Osmeña claimed Aguirre had acted with corruption when he assigned a DOJ prosecutor to resolve the complaints and asked Cebu City investigators to recuse from the cases.

Aguirre had countered that it was within his power to cause the re-assignment of any case. —KBK, GMA News