Labella has a better chance than Rama

It seems the opposition in Cebu City is headed for a breakup following the recent announcement of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella that he is running for the mayoralty position in the midterm elections in May next year.

Labella, who heads the local chapter of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) and is the highest city official of Barug Team Rama, declared his intention to run for mayor last Saturday, putting to rest all speculations about his political moves.

His decision will, however, put him on a collision course with former mayor Michael Rama, the titular head of Barug Team Rama, who earlier announced his intention to reclaim the city’s top post he claimed was stolen from him by the present occupant.

Should Labella and Rama push through with their plans, this will set the stage for a three-cornered showdown in the next mayoralty election with re-electionist Mayor Tomas Osmeña of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan leading the cast.

This development would also mean a divided opposition going against a solid Osmeña camp. Of course, a divided opposition will be expected to go through a very rough road against an intact administration camp.

Osmeña will surely have the advantage if both Labella and Rama will make good their intention to throw their hats into the mayoral election ring. Aside from being bound to suffer from divided resources, the opposition will have to contend with the reality of having to garner a split support from those anti-Osmeña voters.

Between Labella and Rama, it’s the vice mayor who will have a better chance to defeat Osmeña. Labella sports a ‘clean guy’ image, has the charisma and is being supported by the PDP-Laban, the national party affiliated with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Rama, on the other hand, is still licking the wounds he seriously suffered from Duterte’s allegation that he was involved in illegal drugs. For Rama to recover politically, he needs the entire opposition to back him up, aside from a Duterte pronouncement clearing him of the drug accusation.