Serge Osmeña denies taking Cebu for granted in development projects

Former Senator Serge Osmeña III on Thursday defended himself from allegation that he contributed nothing to the development of his hometown Cebu City despite his years of being a senator.

"Marami po ako diyang projects sa Cebu," Osmeña, who is eyeing a Senate comeback in the May elections, said during his interview on Dobol B sa News TV's Ikaw Na Ba? series of senatorial interviews.

He was responding to the allegation, reportedly by Cebuaños, that he had no significant projects in his hometown despite his multiple terms as a senator.

Osmeña said during the Arroyo administration, opposition senators like him did not receive budget allocations for projects. "From 2003 to 2007, na-zero kami ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo," he said.

Despite this, Osmeña said, he was able to "insert" a P100-million budget for a classroom project in Cebu City and P30 million for a project for the University of the Philippines there.

"I was able to insert P100 million for classrooms in Cebu. Nobody has given me credit for that. I inserted P30 million for UP in Cebu," he said.

Osmeña also said he did not use his "pork barrel" from 2013 to 2016 to steer himself from controversy.

"I didn't use my pork barrel in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. Bakit? Kasi naging mabaho na ang pork barrel. Ang sinasabi ng tao na kapag gumagamit ka na ng pork barrel, may kickback ka," he said. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA News