Olympic letdown, Osmeña mindset
By Ricky PocaCebu Daily News
This week I was closely following the Olympic events in London and like other Filipinos, I was very disappointed with the performance of the Philippine contingent.
Many were hoping to win a gold in boxing because of the sensational Mark Barriga who ended up losing in his second fight. Then yesterday our last hope in cycling didn’t qualify for the finals.
We sent a few athletes to the London Olympics aware they were not fully prepared for the sporting event and that we always depend on luck instead of skills due to of inadequate training.
There are many factors that we Filipinos can identify but I think the poor performance of our team is basically due to the interference of politicians in sports. They dip their dirty fingers in practically all matters in the country, from education to health and sports, even though they don’t have any background or expertise in what they meddle with.
I think it’s about time that we insulate sports from politics and let the experts do their job. The people should put politicians in their proper place and not let them intervene in matters where they have no expertise.
Until we do that, the country will never progress.
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The way Congressman Tomas Osmeña announced he was cancelling his road concreting projects in the south district just showed he believes he owns the money for the infrastructure.
He’s forgetting that the money belongs to the people; he just facilitated its release and allocation. This is one mindset reflected in other members of Congress who are fond of arrogating to themselves projects funded by national coffers.
It is but proper for the public to correct this behavior. Of course we recognize that congressman are responsible for allocating the budget for projects but they must be reminded that the funds are not theirs; they come from taxpayers.
Because we have allowed congressmen to behave this way so long, they really believe they own the money, and allocate the budget and the commission that they receive for securing the funds from the national government. What absurd behavior for legislators.
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Many were surprised to learn that Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama signed an ordinance that he initially said he would veto.
The ordinance with its restrictions imposed by the City Council on the selling of reclamation lots in the South Road Proprties (SRP) without council approval was redundant, he said, because this safeguard is already provided for in the Local Government Code.
Many are wondering why it happened under the mayor’s nose. I suspect he was set up by his opponents who used staff members to pull a fast one on the mayor.
It was an embarrassing mistake. The mayor should investigate and find the culprit to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Nevertheless the mayor sent his veto message within the prescribed period so as far his office is concerned, the veto is valid. But I suspect the controversy will reach the court to be resolved.
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Tags: Cebu , Olympics , Politics , South Road Properties (SRP)
