AFTER a long lull -- during which Cebu Mayor Michael L. Rama had publicly made reconciliatory comments or peace feelers for his "political archenemy" Tomas Osmeña -- the former mayor and ex-congressman answered with hurtful insults at the city chief executive.
TWO BLASTS. The scathing and more memorable, from his press-con last October 21 (2023):
[1] Tomas said Mayor Mike "screwed up several times" and was "bad for Cebu City." "He must go." He rated the sitting mayor's performance, in a 1-to-1o scale, at "negative 3."
[2] If Tomas's dog would run against Mike in the next election, he (Tomas) would vote for his dog, in effect any candidate other than Rama. "You know why," he asked rhetorically, "they would not steal."
Basing on potential for libel, the first attack is stock ammunition from a rival in a long-running political battle: not rosy but not surprising and, more relevantly, not defamatory per se.
The second attack, with its reference to dogs and stealing, sounds scurrilous but actually not a direct accusation.
The common element is that it was a reply to an offer of reconciliation and peace extended by Rama to Osmeña. That must have enhanced one's pain and the other's glee, assuming they are both human, vulnerable to human emotions.
NOT LIKELY TO SUE. MLR is not likely to sue over TRO's recent public statements. In the past, he filed complaints against TRO but not over a defamatory remark in a press-con.
In September 2012, Rama filed criminal and administrative complaints with the Visayas Ombudsman over two Dodge Chargers, valued at P2 million each, alleging Tomas, with his sister Minnie Osmeña and her son, personally benefited from the cars, instead of the City using the vehicles. In November 2016, the anti-graft office dismissed the charges "for lack of probable cause."
Maybe Mayor Mike believes that trading insults between rival politicians is part of the job. Or, as a lawyer, he knows what will stand in court and what won't.
HURTFUL WORDS FROM TOMAS. Osmeña struck at Rama before, with statements that could and must have maimed reputation and career.
In November 2015, Osmeña said Mayor Rama "has a serious drug problem." In January 2021, Tomas, when asked in an interview with broadcaster Jason Monteclar about "the biggest mistake in his life," said: "Making Rama the city mayor."
The 2015 diatribe was hard and destructive: Rama lost the election in 2016 although he blamed PCOS machines for his defeat. The 2021 sideswipe was powerful but flung more wit than smear. In both cases, MLR, prudently it turned out, didn't sue.
GOING AROUND LIBEL. Tomas appeared to have found the knack of not colliding directly with the law on libel -- and unleashing his counter-force when least expected.
On the accusation about MLR's alleged drug problem, TRO set up buffers against a reprisal of a libel suit: "if you connect the dots…" and "you cannot ignore the possibility."
On the latest Tomas offensive, which used the native idiom about dogs, the condition is ridiculously impossible (if his dog would run) and the punch line of a-dog-doesn't-steal rests on that condition.
In most, if not all, public tirades against Rama, Osmeña has not made direct, intrinsic slanders, out of caution if not fear of being found guilty of libel.
COMPARED TO RIVAL'S SLUGS, those of Mayor Rama are anything but devastating. In February 2013, Mayor Mike even seemed apologetic when he corrected Osmeña on a disputed matter in the construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway: MLR blamed TRO ("si Tommy ang naka-ingon") but added, "I'm sorry to say Tomas is becoming forgetful..."
That could be because Rama by nature and training argues like a lawyer in a courtroom while Tomas walks into a boxing ring with fists swinging or, more precisely, pulling no punches, directing them where they hurt most, but careful not to be caught violating rules.
APPARENTLY REJECTED in his overture for reconciliation and even a political coalition, Mayor Rama may now be revising plans and adjusting strategies for the political skirmishes to come.
And that might include changing MLR's style and pace in staging attacks against, or defending himself from attacks by, TRO.