Saturday, December 22, 2007 Editorials: Legislative building controversy
SPECULATIONS are doing the rounds on why Mayor Tomas Osmeña is griping at the sidelines while the new Cebu City Hall legislative building was inaugurated.
But there could be no need after all to speculate; perhaps the mayor was honest in his criticism of the amount spent for the project considering the city’s financial woes.
He wasn’t even saying the building is substandard, which would mean somebody made money from the project, whose cost soared from P65 million to P120 million.
He limited his complaint to how the high cost will be seen by constituents and on his misgivings he failed to control the spending, which looks like doing a Pontius Pilate.
‘Independence’
The mayor’s criticism, however, had the effect of putting Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who is the main mover of the project, in an awkward position.
That had conspiracy theorists thinking there is something more to Osmeña’s action than just his worry people will construe the spending as a show of extravagance.
But then again, while Tomas and Mike are party mates, theirs have been a love-hate relation that did not break only because the latter is not prepared to bolt the group.
So the sniping can be considered par for the course, and could be a subtle way of making the public believe that Rama and the City Council are independent of the mayor.
Not Rama?
Others, however, take this in the context of recent developments and in the future of the Osmeña-Rama political partnership, especially in the light of the 2010 polls.
They note, for example, that in the Association of Barangay Council elections, a Rama, Basak San Nicolas’ George Rama, is asserting his independence from the mayor.
Talks are also swirling around that the vice mayor, with his shaky relationship with the mayor, may not be the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan’s bet for mayor.
Names of more loyal party mates like City Hall consultant Joy Young and even the mayor’s wife Margot have been tossed as possible Osmeña bet, not Rama.
Too early to tell
So is this criticism part of efforts to jeopardize Rama’s chances in 2010?
Of course, correctness of speculations can only be verified in practice, which in this case will play out three years away.
