United we stand … divided …

There’s a piece of news that shouldn’t even made the news … that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña admitted that his political party, the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), was “courting” its political foes from the opposite side of the fence. In my book, it is only natural for the mayor, who heads his own party, to strengthen his party by adding members from the opposite side. With the local elections coming in the Year 2019, of course we expect this to happen. Mind you this already happened in the past when Councilor Jerry Guardo left Team Rama to join the BOPK.

On the other side, we expect that the opposition group from either Team Rama or the PDP-Laban should also be using guerrilla tactics to entice those members of the BOPK to switch to their side. I would be totally disappointed if they did not do this. On the other hand, before the PDP-Laban can do anything … they still have to fix their own leadership problems.

It is a fact that House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez appointed Vice-Mayor Edgardo Labella as PDP-Laban president in Cebu City. But according to PDP-Laban provincial president Nixon “Jojo” Dizon, they recognized Lorna Roa Bacalla as president of the PDP-Laban Cebu City chapter. A simple word for those who claim to belong to the PDP-Laban regardless of who they are … there is a age old saying that is still very relevant today, especially in the world of politics …”United we stand, divided we fall!”

At this point, let me say it here loud and clear … that the best person to do battle with Mayor Osmeña and stands the highest chance of winning the mayor’s seat is Vice-Mayor Edgardo Labella. However, he can easily win over Mayor Osmeña if the PDP-Laban or Team Rama supports him totally. So whether ABC Cebu City president Philip Zafra would jump ship, all this remains a cliffhanger. So far he has remained in the opposition.