New Cebu City Council majority
The Cebu City Council has finally acceded to what Mayor Tomas Osmeña has long wanted, which is to be given authority to sell nearly three hectares of South Road Properties (SRP) lots. On Tuesday, 12 out of the 17 councilors present in the session voted for the passage of an ordinance that allowed the sale of two lots in Pond F with an area of 25,769 square meters and an estimated value of P3.3 billion.
The move can be considered an opening salvo for the new majority in the City Council. The balance of power has shifted back to the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) after three Team Rama councilors jumped ship. Which means that the city council is now aligned with the executive, unlike before when it was with the opposition. The next act could be the reorganization of committee memberships .
This would mean that the burden of governing the city is now fully on the shoulders of Osmeña and the BOPK. But it must also be noted that in the checks and balance demanded by the democratic setup, the main burden of scrutinizing the plans and actions of the executive, which is supposedly the function of the council, will now be placed on the shoulders of BOPK councilors. What the new opposition can only do is to make noise if it sees questionable acts from the executive.
Unfortunately, the current setup in the City Council may prevent the BOPK councilors from exercising their true function. Osmeña has wisely given BOPK councilors executive functions, designating them as deputy mayor this and deputy mayor that. Which makes them doubly subservient to the mayor: first, because Osmeña is the party’s titular head, and second because he is the mayor to whom they would report as his deputies.
Of course, there was a time when Michael Rama was mayor that he eventually got the majority in the city council. And while Team Rama councilors were not appointed as deputy mayor, they still were subservient to the mayor, who was their party’s head. The task of scrutinizing Rama’s actions suffered.
Which means that with the BOPK taking full control of City Hall, its members must be conscious of the burden of making democracy function and of upholding the interests of their constituents.