Malilong: City Hall, 24/7?

A FRIEND asked me last week if Tommy Osmeña has finally met his match in Vitaliano Aguirre III. I said maybe but only if the justice secretary makes good his threat to criminally charge the Cebu City mayor for being a drug protector.

It is one thing to allege, another to prove it. If, as Aguirre claims, he has the goods on Osmeña he should not tarry any second in filing his complaint. But not before his office, please because that would make him accuser and judge at the same time. The Ombudsman would be a more neutral arbiter in that event.

What surprises me as, I’m sure, it does many others is why it took so long for Aguirre to disclose the existence of an affidavit by a cousin of Jaguar Diaz, the alleged drug lord who was killed in a supposed encounter with a team of Cebu City policemen in Metro Manila. Allegations of a rubout had surfaced immediately after the killing. Surely, Aguirre must have ordered that the claims be investigated. What happened to that investigation? Why wasn’t the affidavit released then or a few weeks thereafter?

Note also that Aguirre’s release of the affidavit was made after Osmeña accused him of conniving with SM in the dismissal of the criminal complaints that the mayor brought against the conglomerate for alleged tax evasion. An angry Aguirre immediately responded with a threat to sue the mayor for libel. Until now, I have not heard if such a case has been filed.

Osmeña has dared Aguirre to sue him. The latter has no choice but to oblige. This week, maybe?

•••

First, he opened the city’s library to the public 24/7. Then he ordered the same to happen with the city’s sports center effective this week. Both are good decisions and I applaud Osmeña for making them although I have reservations on the cost effectiveness of operating the oval, lights and all, during the wee hours to accommodate a few BPO workers. But hey, the Cebu City Sports Center is a public facility - a cost not revenue center - so what is a few hundred thousand pesos in additional expenses?

But what I would welcome most is an order from the mayor to keep City Hall operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The impact would be terrific.

Note that most, if not all, of those who transact with the city are working people. They go there to pay their taxes, secure tax declarations and clearances and obtain building permits and certificates of occupancy, among others.

More often than not, they are told to come back because one signatory is out of the office for one reason or another and is not expected to return at the end of the day. That is one day of productivity wasted and you’re not even certain if the missing bureaucrat will be reporting on the day that you were told to come back.

If the city government offices are open 24 hours a day, people can drop by after office hours and, if they are asked to come back, they can do so without having to be absent from work.

How about it, Mayor Tom?

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