ALL right, it is not all about politics but mostly it is.
When late last year Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena rushed to the defense of “Angkas” or motorcycle taxi and “habal-habal” drivers, he must have done partly for the goodness of his heart.
But in large measure, it was to win the support of about 6,500 drivers and their families who were stripped of their means of livelihood by the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the illegality of the for-hire motorbikes. Local ruling party BOPK’s Dec. 23 thanksgiving mass cum political rally stripped the pretense of “general welfare.”
Two facts were clear to most everyone: (1) Under existing law, “Angkas” and “habal-habal” are illegal; the law has to be amended to make their operation lawful: and (2) local officials like Mayor Osmena do not have the power to change the rules set by the national government through Congress.
Like some knight
Yet, Tomas chose to act as some knight who would save the motorcycle drivers and their families in distress. Even as his rivals in the May 2019 elections held back their own offer of help and instead criticized the “politicking” and the “deceit.”
“Their mindset is that it is all about politics,” Tomas said of his competitors, a typical attack of a politician whose own political maneuvers are called out for what they are.
Hesitant stance
Vice Mayor Edgar Labella, Tomas’s rival for the mayor’s seat, doubted if the city could join the lawsuit for the interest of the drivers, especially of “Angkas,” which is private enterprise. His Partido Barug colleague, reelectionist Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr., in a privilege speech last Jan. 8, criticized Tomas for lumping “Angkas” with “habal-habal”: they are not the same, he said. “Angkas” is big business “exploiting” the individual entrepreneurs.
Labella and Jun Alcover may be right but politically, the voters from the motorcycles sector may not appreciate the nuances of the law. The said voters may appreciate more the acts of Tomas in giving at least one sack of rice each to the drivers “displaced” by the Supreme Court ruling.
“Deceitful posturing”
They can tolerate even Tomas’s “posturing,” acting as if his or the city government’s taking part in the litigation would matter. To Barug, that is “deceitful”; yet, to the drivers and their families, that may be seen as helping.
Like listening to someone shout to a drowning person in water. “I will never abandon you, you will be OK” which can mean he will keep watching him drown. The poor guy will die but the last words he heard are those of someone trying to help.
Revise the response
Of course, Tomas’s moves are political, Election day (May 13) is only 123 days from today (Jan. 10). As we noted earlier, Tomas apparently has been angling for votes in bulk: groups and blocs that share a common interest or motive and might vote as one.
The opposition cannot keep responding to the mayor’s moves with criticism about politicizing his decisions. What do they think he and his wife, then the acting mayor a few weeks before Tomas’s 2016 term began, have been doing all along? The couple has been trying to crush the competition and win aggregate votes since their return to City Hall.
The sooner the opposition revises their response to Mayor Osmena’s strategy, the bigger their chance of giving him a heck of a fight this May.