It can be Osmeña’s nightmare
WILL it be former mayor Michael Rama? We will know the answer to that soon when Barug Team Rama decides on the replacement of Nendell Hanz Abella in the Cebu City Council. Abella has submitted his resignation letter to Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella last Wednesday after he took his oath as commissioner of the 7th Division of the National Labor Relations Commission 7.
Actually, other names were floated as Abella’s replacement but the mention of Rama is obviously titillating for the public. He is Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s most bitter rival and the mention of his name always spoils the mayor’s day. It can be considered as a bit of a negation of Rama’s defeat to Osmeña in the 2016 polls. Rama would be back in City Hall (something that he tried to do on one occasion or two as an ordinary citizen), although in a minor role this time. Imagine Rama holding office daily in City Hall again and even bumping into Osmeña a few times. The mayor’s days in office will be bad from then on.
Rama, though, does not seem to be amenable to the suggestion. He told SunStar Cebu in a phone interview that he is not entertaining the thought of getting a city council seat. But who knows Rama might just be pretending to be coy on the matter? The man thrives in the limelight, that is why in the early months after Osmeña took over the post of mayor he surfaced in some events and strutted around like he was still the mayor.
Then again his being councilor may have some negative effects. For one, it would push the decibel of political noise in City Hall several notches higher. Osmeña has been waging war with the city council since he assumed office, but with Rama in the said body that war will surely intensify. It’s possible that would spark a new round of divisiveness that could hamper the delivery of basic services to the city’s constituents.
What we need is a city council that functions as fiscalizer and objective scrutinizer of the mayor’s programs and policies. Perhaps the legislative body can be better off if Barug Team Rama chooses as Abella’s replacement one who could best serve that intention.