THE rains last Sunday brought with them a grim reminder of the herculean challenge Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella faces when he assumes the mayorship at noon of June 30.
Slaying the three-headed monster was the theme of Labella’s election campaign and as if to mock the incoming mayor, the monster reared its three ugly heads the other day: flooding, garbage and traffic.
The downpour was admittedly heavy but it didn’t last very long. Still Mahiga Creek swelled and eventually overflowed while almost everywhere else in the city, instant ponds appeared with the downtown area hardest hit by floodwaters that reportedly reached up to the knee level in some portions.
The torrents flushed out piles of garbage into the streets, although and in fairness to everyone, not in such quantity as in Mandaue. As expected, the flow of vehicles was impeded especially in traffic-prone areas.
Labella does not have time to lose with the rainy season having already set in, promising more days of heavy downpour. Right on Day One of his three-year term, he should have already drawn his sword, ready to swing at the proverbial monster. There will be hits and there will be misses, hopefully less of the latter, but he needs only to be consistent in order to find that one mortal blow to the enemy.
The lack of consistency has been our government’s greatest bane. They do something to address the problem, only to abandon it even before it is done, and then revisit it when the situation has become more serious and complicated.
Labella’s advantage is that he has not only local but also national support. Unless Councilor Sisinio Andales’s announced loyalty check works wonders, the incoming administration appears to be firmly in control of the City Council by the time it holds its first session. With the Council on board, the mayor can use the money from the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) lots to SM, Ayala and Filinvest to draw up and execute a comprehensive flood control strategy.
Even more importantly, he can bank on the backing of the Duterte administration, something that Mayor Tomas Osmeña never got to enjoy largely because of his quarrel with Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas’s Mike Dino. With the OPAV in Labella’s corner, it will be easier for him than for Osmeña to tap the assistance of the various national government agencies to support his initiatives.
We have been lucky so far that we haven’t had rainfall as heavy as last Sunday’s, lasting more than three hours or we would have found ourselves swimming in floodwaters littered with our trash. When, God forbid, that happens, many of us may not be able to live to tell the tale and in that event, rightly or wrongly, the blood will be in the mayor’s hands.
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Former Mayor Michael Rama called yesterday to give his take on the question we asked last Sunday on why the BOPK took the risk of fielding three-term councilors Alvin Arcilla and Sisinio Andales in the last elections notwithstanding the clear constitutional prohibition.
“Osmeña miscalculated,” Rama said, adding that his bitter political enemy was no longer as sharp as before. The incoming vice mayor was one of Osmeña’s trusted allies until they had a falling-out.