Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Malilong: Mar Roxas’ search for running mate By Frank Malilong The Other Side
IS former education secretary Florencio Abad ignorant of the current political situation in Cebu? Floating the idea of a Roxas-Osmena or a Roxas-Garcia tandem was reckless, if not downright stupid, for those who know how Cebu City’s mayor and the governor despise each other.
What Abad did is what the Tagalogs describe as “namangka sa dalawang ilog.”
Mar Roxas should tell his Liberal Party (LP) colleagues to do their courtship a little more discreetly next time. Even in this era of political double-dealing, people are not prepared for vulgarity.
It’s different, of course, if Tommy Osmeña and Gwen Garcia have already entered into some kind of modus vivendi in the meantime. Both attended the recent LP meeting that elected Roxas party president, a presence that can be interpreted as an expression of their preference for the Capiz senator in 2010.
Who knows if the common choice for president had resulted in a thawing of relations between the two? That is, admittedly, more wishful thinking than even speculation. Tommy O and Gwen G are like the proverbial immovable object and irresistible force. Nobody’s willing to give in.
Between them, Osmeña ought to have the more motivation to run for vice president. He is on his last term as mayor compared with the governor who has one more left. Unless he agrees to a reversal of roles by running as Mike Rama’s vice mayor, Osmeña has nowhere else to go but semi-retirement, the same destination he had when Alvin Garcia became mayor.
But Tommy does not appear to be enamored with the idea of being vice president or even senator. He does not want to leave the city especially now that his “baby,” the South Road Properties, is growing.
Moreover, I do not think the mayor relishes the idea of leaving Mike alone in 2007 while he’s busy campaigning for a national office. Tommy will beat any comer any time but will his magic rub on Rama even if he is not there pushing for long-time ally?
This is no knock on Mike, a decent politician who had beaten back challengers more serious than Tommy’s, but 2010 would be the worst time for him to fly solo because it is also a presidential election.
By this time, all politicians with presidential aspirations should have already learned the lesson from the debacle that Joseph Estrada and the late Fernando Poe Jr. suffered in Cebu in 1998 and 2004, respectively. Both chose not to field a credible and complete local slate in Cebu, relying instead on “special operations” to carry them through, and got burned very badly as a result.
Thus, if, as expected, Roxas will get the support of Osmeña, other candidates like, say, Senate President Manuel Villar will most likely tap Osmeña’s political enemies and fund them. Mary Ann de los Santos ran on a shoestring budget last May but, even if she lost to Tommy by a wide a margin, managed to capture the imagination of many voters. Can you imagine how far a well-funded Mary Ann campaign can go?
Cebu City has always been “(Sergio Jr.) Osmeña country.” Save for that lone aberration during martial law, nobody ever won an election for city mayor without the blessing of Serging and, after his death, his son Tommy. I do not think the latter is ready or willing to give up that tradition.
