Briones: The resignation

WHY now?

Why did he wait two months to announce his resignation as chairman of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), a post he had held for 14 years?

At the end of last August, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella signed an executive order creating the Sinulog Governing Board, which, at first look, would oversee all activities pertaining to Sinulog 2020, supplanting the foundation’s role as primary organizer and overseer of the festival.

The mayor, though, has long since made some clarifications on the matter. He even thought he had succeeded in ironing out whatever differences might have arisen with the creation of the governing board after meeting with SFI president Pericles Dakay and other members of the foundation where he gave in to their demands. He thought he had dispelled any doubts SFI members had about the governing board’s role in next year’s Sinulog.

“We adopted what was taken up by the foundation... We did not question even a single item on matters brought to us,” Labella lamented.

No wonder the mayor was saddened and shocked by the turn of events. The Sinulog will be without its titular head, so to speak, when the governing board, the foundation and other stakeholders prepare for the province and maybe even the country’s biggest religious and cultural celebration, which takes place every third Sunday of January.

So what gives, Vice Mayor Michael Rama? And why leave the public with such a cryptic and eyebrow-raising SFI parting message?

“For me, I have crossed the Rubicon so the die is cast. The ball now is on their side. We pray and wish perhaps all is well that ends well,” Rama said.

Then why allude to Julius Caesar’s crossing of the river in northern Italy, which, by the way, precipitated the Roman Civil War? If his alliance with the Labella administration continues to be strong, if he really doesn’t want to sever his relationship with a loyal ally, then why go through this rigmarole?

The vice mayor could have easily said he was tired. That was why he was stepping down as SFI chairman. That it was time for somebody else to take up the reins of the foundation. I mean, 14 years is a long time.

Then the public might have understood, although the cynics would probably be retching in the background.

So why pray and wish that perhaps all is well that ends well if everything is in the first place? Which only means it isn’t.

I don’t know what he’s playing at. But Rama should remember that he is no longer the mayor. That his former vice mayor is now his boss. So he should stop hogging the limelight. After all, it’s not his show anymore.

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