Thursday, August 14, 2008 Seares: Tonto and the horse By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
ANOTHER name the Capitol attack squad has suggested for Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is Lone Ranger or Tonto.
Capitol consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda said it is up to the public to decide which character befits the mayor, the horseman or "the horse."
Earlier, the mayor called Gov. Gwen Garcia "Zorra" when a male model dressed as Zorro escorted her to the stage at a
province anniversary function.
Nothing despicable about Lone Ranger, a popular character on radio in the thirties and on TV in the sixties.
Tomas would love Lone Ranger, the brave, masked rider of the plains in the early West whom a historian described as the "sturdy archetype of the good man against the evils of the world."
Did Rory Jon intend to depict the mayor as a loner? But doing all his heroic fights for law and order without a team to help him beat the bad guys even made Lone Ranger more endearing.
Indian companion
Rory Jon's insult must lie elsewhere. Maybe it's the reference to Tonto, Lone Ranger's "sidekick horse." The Capitol consultant hinted that the public may cast the mayor in the role of the horse.
But Tonto is not a horse, sidekick or otherwise. He's Lone Ranger's faithful Indian companion.
The horse was named Silver, "a fiery horse with the speed of light." A favorite opening scene in many TV episodes was that of Lone Ranger on his horse kicking up a storm of dust and the rider prodding Silver, "Hi Yo Silver and a-w-a-y."
Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Silver were all immensely loved characters. Amid the confusion over who is what, perhaps Rory Jon's supreme insult was that none of those roles befit Capitol's nemesis.
