Saturday, June 28, 2008 Nalzaro: Mayor Osmeña’s challenge By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
DIPOLOG CITY--I am still in my hometown attending to my seriously ill mother. But I was told Mayor Tomas Osmeña challenged me to produce my “reliable source” who saw him brandish a gun when he apprehended taxi drivers and owners of private vehicle illegally parked near Fuente Osmeña two weeks ago.
I don't really know why the mayor is making a big fuss of the incident. Is he guilty or is it because his ego was touched?
The mayor insisted he did not brandish a gun. He was also not drunk. Okay.
So, what’s the big deal? It is now his word against that of my source. Just let the public decide on it. I don’t expect him to admit the act as it would incriminate him. His admission can be used by the ombudsman.
My source is an ordinary man and has no ill-motive against the mayor. He is not a supporter of his political opponents. It just happened that he was at the proper time and place when the mayor made the arrest.
Besides, he was not the only person who gave a first-hand account of the incident. Sun.Star Cebu obviously has other sources because the item was published in the Bzzz section even before I wrote about it in my June 16 column.
If one cannot expect the mayor to admit he brandished a gun, one cannot also expect my source to come out and execute an affidavit to support his claim. What for? He was not directly involved in the incident. He just witnessed it. In fact, he said he supported the move of the mayor against the abusive drivers.
As a media person, I am bound to my agreement with the source not to disclose his identity. We always protect our source, and nobody can compel us, not even the court, to divulge the identities of sources. That's in the Sotto Law, authored by Cebuano journalist and legislator Vicente Sotto. Who will trust us if we just easily divulge sources of information?
When asked if he will take legal action against Sun.Star Cebu and me, Osmeña said he would no longer do it because it will just make me more popular. Besides, I have no social value.
Funny. If I have no social value and if I am nothing, why did he bother to give importance to what I wrote? Why would he insist on challenging me to let my source come out in the open? Can you expect an ordinary man to testify against the mayor?
Nobody testified against the mayor on the famous barbecue-stomping incident. Nobody testified in favor of the taxi driver who was accosted and punched by the mayor. If you testify against the mayor, you are fighting a giant. He is an influential person.
However, it could have been another story had I personally witnessed the incident. Alegre gyod unta. I testified against former vice mayor Renato Osmeña when he kicked a boy during the Sinulog grand parade. Why? Because I saw it. As a father, I would have been bothered by my conscience had I not testified.
Osmeña is arrogant and vindictive. He calls me a person with no social value. That’s okay, because I am nobody. But what about him? Had he not become a mayor, he would not have had any social value too. Tua ra unta gihapon ni siya sa America namaligya og kaldero ug plato. Suwerte lang kay na-mayor nga walay puhunan.
