CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña sometimes reminds of a kid on the playground who likes to be the center of attention.
You know, the type who always calls the shots. Picks the team. The kid who expects everyone to follow him because he always comes up with the brilliant move. Or so he would like to believe.
And when he is beaten at his own game, he pooh-poohs the whole thing. Even belittling the achievement of whoever it was who outplayed him.
Short of throwing a tantrum, he then goes to the corner to sulk.
Anyway, that was the image that immediately came to mind when I read that the mayor would not attend the traffic summit organized by the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB).
Oh who am I kidding? Osmeña was intentionally snubbing the event.
The mayor was at his dismissive best. His words seething with disdain.
“Mega Cebu is a fly by night NGO, a self-proclaimed expert,” he said.
He would rather talk to the other mayors in the metro like Mayor Luigi Quisumbing of Mandaue City on how to deal with traffic, particularly on A.S. Fortuna St. leading to Banilad in Cebu City.
But he only singled out Quisumbing. He made no mention of Eduardo Gullas, his counterpart in Talisay City, or the other chief executives of the local governments that make up Metro Cebu.
The mayor said that “the summit will not be a lost opportunity for Cebu City to work with other towns and cities regarding traffic management as the MCDCB has yet to come up with a solution to the problem.”
But wasn’t that the whole point of yesterday’s gathering? To have everyone concerned in one room so they could put their heads together to address the worsening situation?
I don’t know who showed up, but expected to attend were Metro Cebu mayors (minus Osmeña), traffic managers, city or municipal engineers and planning officers.
It would have been a great opportunity to share and receive information since representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency were supposed to provide an update on the traffic situation.
But no. The mayor would have none of that.
“I’m not attending because I’m not part of Mega Cebu. I want to make that clear. If were just to discuss, why not? But the problem of these people is that they think that I’m under them. I’m not Mega Cebu,” he told reporters.
Well, of course he’s not. He’s Tomas Osmeña.
He may be bull-headed at times--okay, all the time--but he’s consistent. I have to give him that.
However, on the traffic issue, which concerns not only Cebu City, he could have at least listened to what others had to say about the matter.