TOMAS OSMEÑA, elected vice mayor of Cebu City and incoming City Council presiding officer, believes the city legislature has not improved the lives of the people, bluntly saying "it's not worth the money."
The BOPK chairman and former multiple-term city mayor said the City Council passes legislation that does not result in better life for city residents. It is like a "machinery for processing papers," he said, "pa-shuffle, shuffle like a casino dealer."
TOMAS STANDARD. Councilors, like in Congress, make speeches, file hundreds of resolutions and ordinances. "Are the lives of Filipinos or Cebuanos any better?" Tomas asked in a video interview with broadcaster Jason Monteclar, released Thursday, June 26, 2025.
Tomas had served as Cebu City mayor for 20 years (1987-1995; 2001-2010; 2016-2019) but was the city south's congressman only for three years (2010-2013). His expertise, one can see, is executive work, not overseeing a bureaucracy whose main work, he said, is "shuffling papers."
NOT FOND OF LEGISLATING. Tomas didn't like being a congressman, he in effect told Monteclar, ("one term ra"), apparently seeing legislative work as an ineffective and wasteful exercise.
And in a few days, Tomas Osmeña will be a legislator again, though in a much smaller legislature.
But he won't be an ordinary legislator: As vice mayor, he'll head the City Council -- preside its sessions, steer the discussion, resolve parliamentary conflicts, set the agenda and, on top of that, run a department that constitutes a major part of the local government bureaucracy.
There's the function of succession, of course, but waiting for the city mayor to die, heavens forbid, or be disqualified is not much work. Presiding a session, even when not turbulent, can be tough. VM-elect Tomas though seems to look at it now not as a piece of cake or a walk in the park but tolerable.
'SIGI LANG," he said on "The Not So Late Show with Jason Monteclar": "Akong trabaho ...motion to adjourn... (I) bang the gavel." Explaining that, Tomas said:
[] The sessions are "only once a week, not even the whole day."
[] The position of vice mayor enables him to talk with City Hall officials and employees about city concerns, the title much like a "license plate."
VM-elect Osmeña must have watched Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros in video streamed from the City Council. Dondon repetitively does the simple function of declaring a resolution or ordinance approved. "Discussion, objection, there being none, approved," capped by the gavel banging.
The work of presiding officer, of course, is a lot more than just using the gavel.
OBSTRUCTIONISM. Presiding a legislative session could be a lot tougher if Tomas would remember the basic functions of the City Council, without which the City Government wouldn't run.
No public fund is spent without legislative approval. The City Council is required to grant authority for the mayor to sign contracts for projects, which the legislature may withhold or delay. Some officials and personnel cannot be hired without the City Council's okay.
Tomas may recall the times when as mayor he complained of obstructionism at the local legislature. In his 2016-2019 term, the opposition in the City Council allegedly blocked his proposals.
The incoming City Council cannot be said to be dominated or controlled by the BOPK administration. From election results and the cross-over membership, it would-be a six-six-six (6-6-6) vote among BOPK, Kusug and Barug. Result of the scramble for defections or changes of alliance among the incoming members, presumably in frantic pace after May 12, is still not known.
ESSENTIAL MECHANISM. The City Council is an essential mechanism for the local government to function. Its resolutions and ordinances may not directly result in the improvement of people's lives but for City Hall to help make that happen, the legislative work is required. That's how things are done in a democratic bureaucracy.
Often too, it is the City Council that prods the mayor and other officials to render basic services for the people, or checks on any excess or abuse in any sector of City Hall.
PARLIAMENTARY SKILL. The problem may not be so much as not having yet the competence in applying the City Council's rules of the house and parliamentary procedure.
Tomas could cram or learn on the job, as VM Dondon, whose expertise is shooting the ball, must have done on occasions when he was still temporary presiding officer.
Or Tomas could assign the job to the presiding officer pro tempore or the majority leader. We've seen faces other than those of the vice mayor leading the City Council session.
THE BIGGER HANDICAP could be not paying attention to the question at hand or constantly having the grasp of the situation, which the presiding officer needs to promptly rule and dispose of pending business. Boredom could cause that, along with the professed lack of trust in the legislature's capacity "to improve the lives" of the people the City Council represents.
Thus the mayor programs and projects could be delayed or derailed -- and people's lives wouldn't be a tad better.