Council still needs opposition
Cebuanos have a phrase for the claim by Team Rama that it still holds a majority in the Cebu City Council after the defection of Councilor Jerry Guardo to the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK): “Danag na lang na.” The truth is, what Guardo did was the game changer as far as Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s effort to regain control of the City Council is concerned.
Nobody is neutral in the City Council, even those who claim to be independents like Councilors Dave Tumulak and Nendell Hanz Abella. Reports say Tumulak has confirmed he is more BOPK than independent. Abella insists he is independent but most of what he has done in the City Council is pro-BOPK.
The faster members of Team Rama accept they have lost control of the City Council, the better. They now have to prepare to be stripped of their chairmanships of the various committees in the council. Which means they have to lay down a new strategy being in the minority. That would include finding ways to stop the bleeding because the shifting of loyalty may continue with the BOPK in full control of City Hall.
Fiscalizing would now be difficult for the re- maining members of Team Rama. But if they are true to their calling they should not let go of that responsibility. Cebuanos who are concerned about the manner Osmeña is running the city now need them more than ever.
Even without control of the city council, the mayor was able to bamboozle his way into implementing controversial decisions like reopening the Inayawan dump site and putting up a garbage transfer station at the South Road Properties. It was only on the strength of the opposition by some city councilors that those moves were successfully countered. Expect more of those controversial moves in the future.
The problem is when Team Rama raises the white flag or clamp down in the coming days either because they got discouraged or they feel too weakened to bother to do the fiscalizing.
That happened when Osmeña was a young mayor dealing with a council that had a strong opposition that included the likes of Vicente Kintanar, Jr. Aven Piramide, Clemente Rama, etc. The opposition eventually raised the white flag paving the way for a stamp pad city council with zero opposition members.