Thursday, June 21, 2007 Espinoza: Focus of new Mandaue City mayor By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
MAYOR-ELECT Jonas Cortes’ plan to rename Mandaue City Hall offices that bear the name of former mayor Teddy Ouano is expected. Jonas would be too generous if he retains those offices’ names.
Besides, while Cortes’ intention is to promote the city and not the person, retaining the names of the said offices will also be like immortalizing his political adversary.
But I don’t think Cortes will go to the extent of removing or renaming the streets named after the Ouanos. That would be beyond decency since there are also city streets named after his family.
The first few months of Cortes’ term will surely be spent on inventory of personnel, changing of the guards and abolishing redundant offices. Meaning, more heads will roll.
It will take time before the new city mayor can start doing real business and rendering better service to the community. In the meantime, traffic in the city is a mess and collection of garbage is delayed.
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Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña was so engrossed with his verbal clash with Lahug Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos that delivery of basic services in the city has been left behind.
Like in Mandaue, Cebu City’s streets are littered with indiscriminately dumped household waste. Almost every corner of the city looks like a dumpsite.
And with his ongoing tussle with Gov. Gwen Garcia over province-owned lots in the city, Osmeña will certainly not be able to think about delivering basic services to his constituents in the coming days.
The mayor and the governor even went to the extent of exchanging childish statements. Governor Gwen told the mayor to transfer his residence to Talisay City and Mayor Tomas told the governor and the Capitol to move out of the city.
How did these useless exchanges crop up? It started with the privilege speech of Vice Mayor Mike Mayor about the land swap deal that provoked the ego of Capitol’s tenant.
Media, as always, was blamed for the mess. But no, media is not to blame for all the ego-tripping. Elected public officials are news sources and should, therefore, be circumspect in what they say or do in public or during interviews.
Media as purveyor of truth has the responsibility and obligation to inform. It would be remiss in its duty to the public if it suppresses reports that are unpleasant to public officials.
Why blame media for doing its job? After all, public officials have, in one way or the other, used media for their vested interests. Yet, when the odds are stacked against them, they raise hell against media. That’s how pathetic they are.
Indeed, the Catholic Prince of Peace, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, was right in telling Mayor Tomas and Governor Gwen to shut up if they want him to mediate in their more personal than official squabble.
But will these officials ever stop tackling in public the issues that have set them apart? I don’t think so because they probably believe that it would be bad for their health if they don’t talk.
The point is they find talking irresistible. They love to read in newspapers every word they say or to hear them on radio and television.
What drives them to say or do things that should not have been said or done in public is their own selfish desires. Yet, we call them public servants even when they have done some disservice to the public.
The term public servant refers to people who are honorable and praiseworthy. But most, if not all, elected public servants have failed to live up to our expectations.
