Quisumbing’s assault

Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing is seeking an investigation into several alleged anomalous contracts entered into by the administration of former mayor now Cebu Sixth District Representative Jonas Cortes.

Recently, Quisumbing instructed the City Legal Office to look into contracts made by the previous city government with some business firms that they claimed as questionable during a review since many of them lack the City Council's authority.

"They reviewed almost 10, and we've flagged about four or five already that have questionable contracts. They appear to be disadvantageous to the city government," the mayor was quoted by The FREEMAN as saying.

For his part, Cortes' chief of staff said all contracts his administration entered into were legitimate. Lawyer Jamaal Calipayan singled out the coming elections as the main reason why the issue is being raised.

Well, in the country's political culture, whoever is the mayor has all the power to do whatever he wants, including going after his political rivals, as former president and now Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada would say: “Weather-weather lang yan.”

And this is not only happening in Mandaue City. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña made a similar move when he sought to rescind the contract, which he claimed as disadvantageous to the city, signed by the previous administration and major companies for development of a portion of South Road Properties.

Quisumbing may have found a weapon in his political assault against Cortes, his former political ally who is running against him in the May elections. But that does not erase the fact that those allegations are worth looking into.

As Cortes and his camp scramble to justify those contracts, they need to show proof that those transactions that Quisumbing is questioning were done aboveboard. Cortes should not make any move that falls short of satisfying Mandauehanons because not doing so will be politically costly.