WAS the “ceasefire agreement” by North District Councilor Niña Mabatid and her nemeses and tormentors, “has-been” councilor Pastor Alcover Jr., and former Apas barangay captain Ramil Ayuman for real and genuine or merely for the “spirit of Christmas” only? Will the “ganging and attacks” on Mabatid over Alcover’s blocktime radio program and in the social media resume after the holidays?
Sources said that Mabatid, Alcover and Ayuman “reconciled” during the Barug PDP Laban Christmas party over the weekend. They hugged each other in front of the other party members. This, upon the prodding of Mayor Edgardo Labella and Vice Mayor Mike Rama. Pero wala kaha maglain ang ginhawa nila ni Alcover ug Ayuman nga migakos ni Niña niadtong tungura? Wala kaha sila moingon nga “kaluod?”
But the question is: Was it for real or just civility because they were in a party and the “protagonists” were forced to do it under the circumstances. Or “pakitang tao lang?” (Pretending to be friends?).
This reminds me of a similar situation with “has-been” mayor Tomas Osmeña and some members of the local media during a Press Freedom Week celebration a long time ago. City Hall hosted a lunch for the members of the media at Nang Damasa restaurant.
Osmeña was there as a host. Some members of the media, especially the leaders whom Tomas did not like because they kept on criticizing him, were there too. I was present, but seated at a distance from the mayor. Before lunch, Osmeña made an opening statement: “Here we are again taking lunch together and pretending to be friends.” That frank statement generated laughter from the audience.
If they were true and sincere in their “ceasefire and truce,” this would lead to a total reconciliation and perhaps dropping of charges. The aggressors here are Alcover and Ayuman and the victim is Mabatid. Their differences stemmed from campaign strategies for which Mabatid was accused by her partymates as a “soloist” by doing her own strategies just to promote herself. She landed in the No. 2 spot, while Alcover and Ayuman lost.
In view of this development, will the duo stop attacking Mabatid on their paid radio program and social media? In exchange, will Niña also drop the libel cases she filed against them?
Did Alcover and Ayuman ask the intercession of Labella and Rama to patch up their differences with Mabatid because they are afraid of the libel cases filed by the latter against them? If this is the theory, why did the two top officials and party leaders intervene only now? Where were they when Mabatid was attacked, lambasted and humiliated by her aggressors? Will they sign a formal agreement to stop everything? These are just the nagging questions that need to be answered.
After calling Mabatid several names in the past, can we expect Alcover and Ayuman to take back their words? Will they now describe Mabatid as a good public servant and the prettiest and sexiest lady councilor that Cebu City has ever had?
But I will just remind Mabatid of a possible public backlash if she decides to drop the charges against her tormentors. She will look bad before the eyes of the public. People might think that she was not sincere in seeking justice for what they did to her. The public might say that her intention was just to harass her tormentors and gag them. She should purse those cases to the end.
Her Waterfront Hotel experience should encourage her to pursue these cases. In that Waterfront Hotel experience, she was humiliated because she was accused of kicking and threatening the hotel’s security personnel who blocked her entry with her physician husband. She was mistaken for an “escort girl.” A video of the incident was secretly released by the hotel management. But when she filed charges against the hotel management, no less than its owners apologized and amicably settled the matter. She was vindicated and they reconciled. That’s what we call “reconciliation based on justice.”