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Saturday, September 18, 2004
Editorials: Fighting City Hall
It’s an old saying that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña must have taken to heart: You cannot fight City Hall.
Thus when the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) considered the Cebu City Government a delinquent advertiser and refused to sell airtime to City Hall, the mayor had no qualms threatening to close radio and television station GMA 7.
When the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the Department of environment and Natural Resources (DENR) dared to challenge City Hall to implement fully the Solid Waste Management Act, he threatened to dump garbage into their offices.
Indeed, in the old days when this country’s democratic institutions and practices were still shaky and people were still less aware of their rights, Osmeña’s threats would have already been enough for targets of his ire to scamper for safety.
But times have changed. While a mayor’s power can be considered awesome within his jurisdiction, it has limits. And while City Hall is a major center of an area’s governance, there are other democratic institutions that play a major role in it, too.
This ensures that strongman’s tactics or bullying by City Hall or any other government entities are checked, and that constituents or those bullied can fight back.
Meaning, if you have been treated unfairly, surely, you can fight City Hall.
Being Tomas Osmeña
The difference between a Cebu City with Mayor Osmeña abroad for an official trip or vacation and a Cebu City with the mayor around is comparable to a country before the visit of typhoon Pablo and one when it struck.
Or to put it simply, it’s the contrast between calm and fury.
Indeed, Osmeña was fresh from a trip abroad when he started firing away at the KBP and GMA 7, the IBP and DENR on various issues. The target of the next salvo will already be predictable: Talisay City.
It is amazing how the mayor can easily pick a fight and raise the emotional level of a city whose residents would have preferred doing their daily tasks without much fuss. One is prodded to ask then how he survives with rage continuously boiling within him.
But his well-being is mainly his problem. What should concern residents of the city more is the effect of the mayor’s conflict-seeking style on governance.
What is reassuring, however, is that much of Osmeña’s posturings have been duds, or that in the many instances that he tried to bully people and groups, he has backed off.
(September 18, 2004 issue)
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