IT IS highly commendable for the newly-minted Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella to announce before the local media, right after he took his oath, that he will “allow all councilors to hold committee chairmanships, including the opposition councilors of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).”
Coming from a man who, without doubt, was at the receiving end of all that mirrored a hated and bruising campaign, the announcement came out like a whiff of fresh air in a typically suffocating and nerve-wracking electoral exercise. As he described it, Mayor Labella said that “his most difficult fight in his political career was fighting against former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña.”
I am not a voter in Cebu City–and I came to know of Mayor Labella only through friends and the media – but I find time to write my piece about this healthy, outstanding example set by him, hoping that other politicians would find it in their conscience to follow suit; that is, to treat their political opponents in the service fairly and of equal importance. After all, these leaders were also elected to carry the people’s mandate–they are, therefore, no less deserving to hold committee chairmanships than those lucky to cling to the center of power.
Especially, this gentlemanly gesture shown by Mayor Labella speaks volumes of his innate character as a humble person - made more pronounced, I’m sure, by his sincere and honest dealings with the government and the city’s residents. Truly, this is one shining moment the Cebu City residents could, again, be proud of. Congrats, Mayor Edgardo Labella.