Wednesday, November 05, 2008 Wenceslao: Chest thumping, verbal fireworks in Soca? By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
HUMAN Life International, led here by Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, lived up to its name by praying in support of United States republican presidential bet John McCain, who is tailing democratic party’s Barack Obama in surveys. No, Bullecer and members of his group are not qualified to vote in today’s US elections. They’re just concerned.
The biggest international news today is of course the US presidential elections, which could be historic in the sense that if Obama wins he will be the first black president of his country. I don’t know, however, if ordinary Pinoys give a damn as to who of them wins. They probably could not even differentiate one bet from the other.
Again, I doubt if an Obama or a McCain win can result in any substantial change in US policy. But the good news is that somebody will finally replace George W. Bush starting next year. That is also bad news for whoever will take over, considering the mess Bush created in Iraq and to the US economy. The cleanup task would be formidable.
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The brief return of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to Cebu on Friday should ease the worries of his supporters about his illness.
That doesn’t mean his cancer has been cured but it shows that it has not totally deterred him from doing what he wants to do. So far. The next phase of his treatment, which includes chemotherapy, is the one that is crucial.
What should be interesting is when he delivers his State of the City Address (Soca) on Saturday. This one does seem to be more elaborate than the previous Socas because, one, it will be held at no less than the Cebu City Sports Center and, two, he is inviting attention-grabbing sectors, like occupants of Province-owned lots in the city.
The Soca is done amidst the swirl of Capitol-related issues that the mayor picked up even while he was in the US and the frenzy over the Filinvest bid for lots at the South Road Properties (SRP). I can already imagine some chest thumping over the SRP and verbal tirade against his pet peeve. That’s Tomas for you, illness or no illness.
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Weeks have passed since Vice Mayor Michael Rama took over as mayor but, contrary to expectations, he has been operating under the radar so far. There was a time when Rama, even as vice mayor, was high profile and was seemingly everywhere. Instead, it is now Cebu City Administrator Bimbo Fernandez who has taken that role.
My feeling is that Rama’s hands are tied first, by Osmeña’s creation of a City Hall management team before he left for treatment in the US and second, by his worries of falling out of Osmeña’s favor come 2010 elections. The setup may have had Rama becoming extra-careful or overcautious, to a point that he is no longer his usual self.
A Sun.Star reporter told me the other day that Fernandez is also leaving for the US. “So we will no longer have a real acting mayor,” I quipped. “The problem with City Hall is not that it has no acting mayor,” she shot back, “the problem is that it has many mayors.” Recalling the characters of some city councilors, I couldn’t help but agree.
That compounds Rama’s problem. It looks like some city councilors either don’t respect him as a leader or are just too obsessed themselves with the 2010 elections. With the mayor ill, that does not augur well for the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
