WHAT is this information I gathered that former south district congressman and defeated candidate for Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña is spreading talks among barangay officials that he would surely win in his electoral protest against reelected Mayor Michael Rama? That the protest will be resolved and he will take over City Hall by November?
I first heard about this story two weeks ago from a mountain barangay official who is allied with Tomas's Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK). Tomas later reiterated this during the birthday party of Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) founder and president Democrito Mendoza last week at the Mariners Court.
If this is true, then Tomas is entitled to his own entertainment. If his protest is resolved within this year, then it would be the shortest electoral protest process I ever heard. Note that many electoral protests are resolved a few months before the next elections. Others have not even been resolved yet.
To recall, Tomas, right after the May 13 elections, filed a protest against Mike citing, among others, the supposedly questionable counting of votes by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (Pcos) machines. He also accused Team Rama of buying votes.
I think Tomas is suffering from depression because of his defeat in the elections. He still cannot accept the reality that he lost to his former political protege. I was informed by his close friends that he is back into heavy drinking.
Depression is an illness that causes a constant feeling of sadness and lack of interest in things. It affects how a person feels, behaves and thinks.
It can lead to emotional and physical problems. Typically, people with depression find it hard to go about their day-to-day activities and may also feel that life is not worth living.
My unsolicited advice to Mr. Osmeña is for him to move on. Your defeat to Mike is not the end of your political career. There is still a chance that you will bounce back.
But while waiting for that opportunity, do not sow intrigues and spread the wrong information that you will get a favorable decision in your protest and will take over City Hall soon.
It’s as if you are giving false hope to your supporters. The truth is it will take a long process before a final decision on your electoral protest is handed down. The case will even reach up to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, you just have to sit back and relax and prepare for the 2016 polls.
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The coming barangay elections will be a proxy war between Tomas Osmeña and Mike Rama. I am sure that they will put up their own candidates in all the barangays.
Reelectionist barangay captains allied with BOPK will surely be challenged by Team Rama candidates and vice versa. This is in preparation for the next elections.
With political parties backing barangay-level candidates, the rule that barangay officials should be non-partisan is lost. Non-partisanship is actually a misnomer. It is an illusion because barangay officials have long been partisans. They are not neutral.
As for the October elections, I will quote Manny Pacquiao: we will see the scattered (makita ra ang katag) come election time.
(bobby.nalzaro@yahoo.com)