THE problem with a government officials desperately trying to woo voters is that sometimes their actions are knee-jerk and thus may backfire. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has been wooing various sectors to his side the past several months, coming up with programs for them and making it appear like it is his heart and not that of the Cebu City Government that bleeds for them.
You’ll know that it is the intention because the mayor has been making fuss about these programs in his social media account: improving the city public library and opening it for 24 hours to target students; refusing to arrest habal-habal drivers even if the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board frown on their operation; opening Plaza Sugbo to the farmers in the city’s mountain barangays during Farmer’s Day; and offering bus rides to business process outsourcing (BPO) workers.
After a call center agent was killed in Mabolo last October, Osmeña announced in his social media account that the Cebu City Government will provide free bus rides to BPO employees in the city. Four buses were initially deployed with two designated routes all headed to the Cebu I.T. Park from midnight to 6 a.m. Which makes the purpose obvious: to win over the call center agents.
The mayor’s tone changed, however, when somebody (he accused Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino of being behind this) pointed out the obvious: why give the BPO employees special treatment in his free bus ride program when the poor, the students, the senior citizens and others are more in need of this service?
“Contrary to what Michael Dino is paying you to say, the midnight to early morning shuttle is open to all people who need transportation when no jeepneys are available. Nurses and night students need a safe way to get around too,” Osmeña said, apparently trying to save face. Another face-saving statement: City Call Center Program head Nanette Garong said that call center agents will still be prioritized.
It looks like the wooing of BPO employees is about to backfire. Like in the Hans Christian Andersen tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, somebody saw through the ruse and shouted: “But the emperor has no clothes!” The unfairness in the city’s free bus ride program has been exposed.