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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Mongaya: Tommy-Alvin verbal exchange
By Anol Mongaya
The Tommy-Alvin war continues to rage with both claiming key city projects as their own as Election Day nears. The latest exchange revolved around who should get credit for the South Reclamation Project (SRP) and two awards given to Cebu City.
Former mayor Alvin Garcia said the SRP was bidded, implemented and finished during his watch. He added that Osmeña even blocked plans to finish the project on time. But Osmeña claims he conceived the project and finished the feasibility study.
While City Ordinance 1891 that created the Gender Development Code was conceptualized and approved during Garcia’s term in 2001, Osmeña received a Galing Pook Award for it in 2003.
Osmeña also received the United Nations Habitat Award in Japan in 2004 citing Cebu as one of the three most women-friendly cities in Asia Pacific because of its support for Lihok Filipina’s Bantay Banay Program. Based on records, the Lihok Filipina Foundation received financial support in 1995 when Osmeña was mayor and Garcia was vice mayor. In 1997, Garcia approved financial assistance particularly to the Bantay Banay Program.
While Osmeña said nothing could change the fact that he received the awards, Garcia described him as someone nga “midawat og limpyo.”
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This exchange developed after Alvin came out with advertisements in two local dailies that compared his accomplishments during his term as mayor with that of the present term of Tomas. The mayor also had a television ad that claimed the SRP as his project. His streamers mentioned the two awards.
While Osmeña avoided a face-to-face clash with Garcia, the latter’s aggressiveness has forced Osmena to engage Alvin in a virtual debate on performance. That should benefit the public.
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I think Garcia was disappointed to see Osmeña boasting about awards and projects that he labored on during his two terms. But that’s because he lost, though with a slim margin, in 2001. To the victor belong the spoils, they say. Yet the slim margin also accorded Garcia the right to question Osmeña’s claims to these spoils.
In my view, Osmeña can only claim complete victory if he wins via a landslide this time, something that Garcia vowed to frustrate by winning the rematch.
How close is Garcia to his goal of winning? As I pointed out earlier, people are now saying he actually has a chance. It seems his strategy of luring Osmeña into a debate on performance is working.
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The opposition, it seems, has sealed its fate when the supposed last-ditch effort to unite the camps of Fernando Poe Jr. and Panfilo Lacson failed. Both opposition candidates seem not interested in actual unity as shown by their excuses (that they’re sick) so they would not meet.
Lacson, in an e-mailed statement, said he has no plans of withdrawing from the race, thus turning down the appeal of jailed ex-president Joseph Estrada for him to slide down to in favor of FPJ.
"That is (Estrada's) prerogative but it doesn't mean I should heed his call. We're in the thick of the campaign and I intend to go through this exercise," the senator said. "Mr. Estrada’s decision to side with Poe is obvious. It is his personal position and it will be like that. I respect his position because he is very consistent unlike the others."
Lacson added: "You can imagine a superstar and a supercop (wanting to talk), but the super-ego comes into play so there's no super-happening … If unification would mean my withdrawal then forget it.”
Opposition spokesmen may claim they still have time for unification. But the nearer the election, the lesser the benefit they could get out of such an exercise.
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The political situation in the sixth district has an interesting twist. Sen. Sonny Osmeña is now thinking of junking Rep. Nerry Soon-Ruiz in favor of congressional aspirant Joy Ouano. If this happens, the senator will be backing the same candidate as his son Vice Gov. John-john Osmeña.
Perhaps, the senator could also be shrewdly siding with a big faction of the Ouano clan that is reportedly being wracked by feuds. A source said this feud is for real.
(e-mail: anol_cebu@ hotmail.com; text: 0917-9761193)
(April 22, 2004 issue)
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