Shifts in allegiance

IF MEMBERS of Team Rama in the Cebu City Council were a chain, the weakest link proved to be City Councilor Dave Tumulak. Dave recently announced his bolting from the party and turning “independent,” which actually means he is just biding for time before joining Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK). That would weaken a bit Team Rama’s control of the city council.

Tumulak, though, didn’t come up with a good enough reason for the jump. He talked about too much politicking in the City Council even if the body is barely two months in existence and crucial issues have still to be tackled by it. He may be referring to the failure of the minority BOPK councilors to get committee memberships but that was partly at the urging of the BOPK councilors themselves.

The main reason for the jump could actually be seen in the reaction of Mayor Tomas Osmeña. He has offered Tumulak the position of deputy mayor for police affairs (even if Osmeña has lost supervision and control over the police). What this means is that by shifting allegiance, Tumulak would be able to recover whatever power he lost after Osmeña defeated former mayor Michael Rama. He was high-profile in the two previous Rama administrations.

Interestingly, Tumulak is the highest vote-getter among the city councilors in the May 9 elections so that when Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella acts as acting mayor, he becomes acting vice mayor. Could future political positioning be one of the reasons for the transfer? And could this mean that he was specifically recruited by Osmeña because of it?

With Tumulak’s transfer, who among the remaining Team Rama councilors is the next weak link in the chain?

*** Still about shifts in allegiance, more than 300 Cebu officials took their oath as members of the administration Saturday night. They include members of Team Rama led by Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella. He was with Councilors Jocelyn Pesquera, James Anthony Cuenco, Jose Daluz III and Jerry Guardo. To follow their lead are two other Team Rama councilors Raymond Garcia and Joel Garganera.

City Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr. is shunning PDP-Laban, which is not surprising because of his long-running conflict with President Rodrigo Duterte, a former Davao City mayor. Joining him is Nendell Hanz Abella. I don’t know what Abella’s reason for not joining PDP-Laban but I say there is nothing wrong with it. Not all politicians are prone to go balimbing, after all.

What the oathtaking showed is that PDP-Laban is continuing to consolidate its gains in the May 9 elections. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said the party will reach out to the barangays to strengthen its push for federalism. So the formation of a “super majority” by the administration is not only in the House of Representatives. It is everywhere.

Former mayor Michael Rama was not allowed to take his oath even if he is the head of Team Rama for one obvious reason. He is in the President’s list of alleged drug protectors. Alvarez said that Rama can only be accepted by the party if he is able to clear his name. When that will happen, we do not know. Which means that Rama’s political career is in limbo because of his being in Digong’s list.

By the way, will the pressure exerted by the Duterte administration on Mayor Tomas Osmeña push him to also join the administration party?