(EARLIER column: “Worse than a hybrid leadership at City Hall: a hostile City Council,” May 2, 2019)
IT is not unimaginable that on June 30, when new government officials elected on May 13 will assume office, there will be a split leadership at two major seats in the local government:
At the Cebu Capitol, Gov. Gwen Garcia and Vice Gov. Junjun Davide, or maybe Gov. Agnes Magpale and Vice Gov. Daphne Salimbangon.
At Cebu City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Vice Mayor Mike Rama, or maybe Mayor Edgar Labella and Vice Mayor Mary Ann de los Santos.
Split leadership
Cebu City has had a “hybrid” leadership since the 2016 term of local officials began. Labella of Barug is vice mayor to Osmeña of BOPK. While they have not been clawing at each other’s face, Tomas and Edgar also have not been working well together, especially in those times when control of the legislature seesawed between the rival camps. On the Kawit development project, both camps stretched one session in August 2018 to a 48-hour gridlock.
Even those who love checks and balances as requirement of democratic rule hate split governance, which often stalls basic services and derails development plans because of the squabble between the mayor or governor with his No. 2 official and the legislature.
Value of No. 2
The old advice has been this: choose the No. 2 man or woman well because he or she could be No. 1. That holds true more than ever, on two levels.
[1] For the mayor or governor, a VG or VM belonging to another party could be a serious obstruction, depending on intensity of rivalry or animosity.
Mayor Tomas is only partly bullying when he calls “babageros” his VM, Labella, who presides over the City Council, and the Barug councilors. Then governor Gwen on her third term in 2010 was visibly annoyed by her then VG, the late Greg Sanchez, over programs allegedly delayed or barred by the Provincial Board he headed. And before the 2019 election, realignment at the PB created difficulties that Governor Junjun didn’t have before Gwen decided on a return run. Which raised the other lesson: a hostile VM or VG, along with an inflexible legislature, would be a tougher problem to the chief executive.
[2] The mayor or governor may want more than a docile and compliant VM or VG. The chief executive prefers the seat to stay within the family or clan and within the party.
Some combinations of election winners might complicate governance: With a Tomas-Rama tandem, Rama would be the mayor’s successor. And they hate each other’s guts. And a Gwen-Junjun duo? Gwen wouldn’t want the “Tower of Davide” to rise; it would be skirmishes from day one.
Who succeeds
Voters often give the choice of vice mayor or vice governor scant thought. But then how many electors consider voting cerebral? That metaphor about No. 2 being spare tire is not precise. Not all four or six tires of a vehicle get disabled at one time. But if the driver keels over, he needs only one replacement driver.