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Saturday, September 18, 2004
News(boy) sense: Extortion
By Cheking Seares
"We have met the enemy and they are us."
The opossum Pogo said that in Walt Kelly's comic strip. Will Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, paraphrasing Pogo, apply it to himself, saying "I am my own enemy"?
You and I don't think so. We can't think of Hizzoner eating the humble pie and owning any lapse or error.
Cartoon character Pogo is wise, self-effacing, warm-hearted and kind. Tomas is wise, period.
Some doubt
But even on wisdom, one can have some doubt about his recent use of that. The wise chooses enemies and weapons well.
Sun Tzu, whom the mayor reportedly reads, cautions against wild battles you don't need to win or even wage.
What's the wisdom of slandering entire peoples and organizations? Look at recent targets/victims:
-- The people of Talisay City, when it was only then mayor Eddie Gullas he collided with over the South Reclamation Project.
-- The entire IBP and the entire DENR, when only a few, gave the warning of lawsuit on failure of Cebu City to push enforcement of the Solid Waste Management Act.
-- The entire KBP, when only some broadcast stations did business with City Hall.
Business practice
IBP and DENR are just using a remedy provided by the law on solid waste management. What does the mayor want, take his sweet time in enforcing the law? Why can’t he be more reasonable like the other LGU officials? If that is impossible, at least he can spare people from collective slander.
KBP is merely using a common business practice against delinquent or bad debtors. Doesn’t the mayor himself use similar, if not worse, tactic on reluctant payors?
Tomas says he is not afraid of media. So what? Most journalists don’t expect fear, only some civility, from their news sources.
(September 18, 2004 issue)
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