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Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Malilong: Laudable IBP move
By Frank Malilong
The Other Side
I must congratulate the Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for finally finding its voice on the closure of the South Coastal Road by Mayor Tomas Osmeña. A simple expression of support for the case filed by lawyer Alfredo Sipalay would have been sufficient, but the Cebu City IBP board walked the proverbial extra mile by actively participating in its prosecution. Suddenly, Fred isn’t waging a lonely battle anymore.
That the Cebu City IBP decided to support the case against the coastal road’s closure while its president is abroad is unfortunate but purely coincidental.
Alex Tolentino is in the United States on a mission for the Metropolitan Cebu Water District. As a top official of the city’s waterworks agency, Alex is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as close to City Hall but I`m sure that he would have gone along with his board’s decision regardless of his personal opinion on the issue.
All the IBP officers deserve credit for taking a stand. I thought that after Mocring Barcena’s presidency, the lawyers’ would revert to its old reactionary self. I owe my brother lawyers an apology. Special mention must be made of Kit Enriquez who not only wrote the draft resolution that his fellow officers adopted but also masterfully persuaded his colleagues that passing it was the right thing to do.
I will no longer discuss the merits of the controversy because of the pending court case. I cannot, however, but note with sadness how Osmeña continues to flaunt his awesome powers by threatening to put down someone.
His threat to “bring Talisay to bankruptcy” isn’t the kind of behavior that evinces responsible leadership. It came on the heels of a similar threat to close down the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug and brought back memories of how he 1) chased out of his office and shut the door on a barangay captain; 2) padlocked the Juan Luna entrance to the Santo Nino Basilica; and 3) closed the coastal road.
There is no doubt that Osmeña is king in Cebu City but that is not the same as saying that he is the king of Cebu City. Osmena’s reign is secure. There is no one in the political horizon capable of beating him in an election; no, not even Raul del Mar or Tony Cuenco or Sonny Osmeña.
The people’s great faith in him as their leader ought to have a humbling effect but obviously it has driven the opposite behavior. All these years I have waited to see humility in the mayor’s actuations especially after his near brush with death but sadly, I have seen only arrogance.
I still think that the mayor is a decent man trying to do his job. I just wish that he’d show more tolerance than impatience, more compassion than anger and more gentleness than overbearing pride. Most of all, I wish that during those times when he feels invincible, he would pause to remember that in fact, Tomas Osmeña can beat Tomas Osmena.
(June 8, 2005 issue)
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