THEY could be playing "good-cop, bad-cop" but in that game, one suffers while the other gains. In the case of the sidewalk vendors, it seems Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella loses points while Vice Mayor Mike Rama scores them, at least among members of that sector.
After what appeared to be flip-flopping by City Hall on the policy towards vendors, the policy was finally fixed with Labella's announcement that the vendors would remain banned along Colon St. and Osmena Blvd. "per order of the national government."
"Where are the poor people now?" wailed Rama, Which sounded more theatrical in Cebuano-Bisaya, "As naman ang mga kabus?"
Rama began wailing about the vendors' plight as early as when the clearing operations started weeks ago to beat the deadline set by DILG. City Hall at first wobbled on policy ("they are gone, then they reappear"), Rama even made more splash than BOPK stalwart Councilor Alvin Dizon who also harped on the theme of helping the "poor vendors."
No party stand
Apparently, Partido Barug, to which Labella and Rama belong, doesn't have a party stand on the vendors issue, unless you cite the "rule of policy" it has been espousing all along.
But this is a case where the National Government, led by President Rodrigo Duterte, takes the initiative of enforcing the national law. While many other local officials welcome the "meddling," as they can now blame "Imperial Manila" for the move against vendors, a few politicians like VM Mike seem to exploit it to promote their personal political stock.
Mike's defenders say it is his nature; it is "natural response" of a politician "whose heart bleeds for the poor." Labella's supporters say Labella is looking at what is good for the majority, not for a few hundred votes of the vendors.
Rule of law advocates
Some City Hall watchers say one policy doesn't exclude the other: The city can enforce the law and at the same help the vendors not lose their means of living. It could be tough but not beyond solution. The problem is when the mind is riveted on only one redress: the vendors won't go anywhere else and people like Mike Rama won't settle for a compromise.
As advocates of RL ("rule of law"), Labella and Rama should not allow public space reserved by law for pedestrians -- at least the sidewalks on major streets -- for the vendors to use for commerce.
Wrinkle or dissent
What could be the effect of VM Mike's letter to the president, "courtesy of Senator Bong Go"? Duterte may ignore it, as he did when he was besieged with requests for Rama to be taken off the president's "narco list," or he'd probably ask, "What does Mayor Labella say?"
It would've been stronger if the plea was made by both mayor and vice mayor. The Rama letter appeared to be a wrinkle, if not outright dissent, to Labella's policy of heeding the Manila order, for Colon St. and Osmena Blvd. to remain free of the vendors.
People talk about...
[1] THE NBA BEING SLAMMED BY CHINA'S STATE MEDIA. The sports organization refuses to apologize for a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager supporting protests in Hong Kong. This is not the first time sports personalities got into controversies for "meddling" in politics.
But this may be the first time for an entire sports organization to tangle with China, which is a huge market for many products promoted through the NBA games.
China has begun taking NBA pre-season games off the air and tearing down huge billboards promoting the NBA.
[2] LOCAL BUSINESS GROUP THAT MAINLY FINANCED A TRIP OF OFFICIALS ABROAD. What were the benefactors saying after the trip? "They were pleased that their guests were pleased." No one's complaining and everybody's happy.
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