[] Then mayor Tomas Osmeña had "deputy mayors" before but they were only deputies. He didn't have a co-mayor or another mayor for the night.
[1] Much of the controversy over "mayor of the night" is caused by confusion over what it means and how it works for Cebu City, which, like all other cities and towns in the country, has only one chief executive or mayor.
Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. expressed confusion of the local legislature and the Cebu City public it represents. He said the councilors don't know what the title "mayor of the night" means, the night mayor's power and functions, what the extension office will do and how.
RELATED: Seares: Tomas Osmeña's "Mayor of the Night" project might hurdle legal barrier, News+One, Oct. 8, 2025
The concept was created and first publicized by then vice-mayor candidate Tomas Osmeña and presented as a 2025 election promise by BOPK. After the come-backing group won City Hall's two top seats, Mayor Nestor Archival Sr. launched the "night mayor" project on July 1 with free bus rides in some city routes.
On October 7, it hit a snag when the amount of P12.5 million was asked for rental of office spaces to be used by the "night mayor" and his staff and the non-BOK-dominated City Council pushed back.
Earlier, Osmeña had said there was no need for an ordinance to start his project, which turned to be not so. Money had to be appropriated and the City Council decides on spending. And the councilors were almost clueless how the "night mayor" setup would operate.
[2] What's been known so far was that it would be a "one-stop shop" for services of City Hall and some national agencies.
Ah, just like what is being done by some local governments, in which one can transact with government in one location and get a license or permit or pay taxes and fees, file request or complaint, all in one location. Yes, but not quite the same, as the "shop" will do more.
Services will be done at night, the whole night, from evening to morning, or the next day if it would take longer. In fact, the night thing is the principal attraction -- "for a city that never sleeps" -- plus this: "a mayor of the night."
There are yet no specifics on how the one-stop shop will operate, extent of its functions, scope of its clientele, logistics required, and the cost, of course the cost. What's the arrangement with national government agencies, which also have to consider their own limits on personnel and funds?
And this bothersome question: Do those services require a mayor actually overseeing them during the night? One even wonders if a mayor is needed for a one-stop-shop during the day. The city administrator or his deputy can manage the offices doing the work.
[3] No study yet presented on cost and benefit and the question of need. Does the "one-stop-shop" service require the whole night or would extension of an hour or two, or more, not serve the purpose? The councilors need to estimate how many night workers in the city actually transact business with City Hall and national agencies and how many times in a year or quarter they do.
As to location of the "shop," the councilors may need to know if the City Hall building, unoccupied at night, won't have the space.
[4] There are alternatives, less complicated and less costly. Foremost of course is digitalization.
That particularly will be effective with call center workers, in the BPO (business process outsourcing industry), who can transact business with the City Government and national agencies through the internet. VM Osmena has shown much concern about the call center workers who work at night and can't go to City Hall during daytime. (Wait, can they ever go? At night, they're at work; daytime, they're asleep.)
A tool ready and apt will be the digitalized process.
Another is targeted extension service, in which mobile staffs schedule special service at a specified location and date and hours, arranged with BPO and other night workers groups. Or why not just extend a few hours after 5 p.m. once the need for overtime service is determined.
[5] On a "night mayor," the concept has to be made clear: only one mayor at a time. There can be no other mayor, a "night mayor," just because the elected mayor is asleep.
Tomas Osmeña apparently thinks that as vice mayor, he is co-mayor of the city government, comparing himself to a co-captain of a ship who takes over the helm when the captain goes to bed.
The Local Government Code though specifies only one mayor. The vice mayor takes over only as mayor in case of the "effective absence" of the mayor. That will be when the mayor is outside of the country, suspended or dismissed, or is otherwise powerless or unable to do the job of mayor.
Mayor Nes sleeping at night is surely not "effective absence."
The office of mayor has to be vacant, permanently or temporarily, before VM Tomas can assume as mayor. Yet when that happens, there's only one mayor, not two -- and Osmeña cannot be both vice mayor and mayor at the same time. Tomas's seat becomes vacant and the No. 1 councilor assumes as VM.
[6] Complications may arise if two mayors run the city, even if bordered by specific hours of the day and night. Which functions can the "night mayor" do, only those related to the extension service that City Hall does through the one-stop shop?
Can Mayor Nes do the work of mayor during nighttime, when the night mayor is on duty and in charge?
By the way, won't VM Tomas, given his state of health, need night rest more than Mayor Nes does?
[7] It must be the PR aspect that prompts the "mayor of the night" project. Yet the one-stop-shop plan can still be pursued without running into any legal or constitutional barrier or causing confusion in City Hall bureaucracy or the public it serves.
One way is to avoid relating any spending for the project to a "night mayor" or any "mayor" other than the duly elected one. The shop cannot be an extension office of VM Tomas as his office is legislative and the duties it will perform are mostly executive. No money can be spent for an office that does not legally exist.
He and others may even call him "night mayor" with the mayor delegating to him duties that won't conflict with his being a legislator and presiding officer of the City Council. If nobody gripes and no dispute arises, the issue may remain gray area, which the public may overlook.
Remember then mayor Tomas Osmeña's "deputy mayors," councilors who were given executive functions? They were not really mayors; they were deputies and more like "meyor-meyor." No disputes then; nobody went to DILG or office of the president or the court to complain.