Liberal intramurals

The present arrangement of the Cebu City Council in bypassing Councilor Edgar Labella when they refer  proposed ordinances  is expected after he, Jose  Daluz and Ronald Cuenco joined Team Rama as the political  opponent of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).

It’s best for the majority bloc  and its leadership to reorganize the city council and  committee chairmanships to avoid this situation and hurt feelings  among friends in the council.

Vice Mayor Joy Young refused to reorganize the council. He and allied  councilors didn’t want to have the three  booted out and possibly  projected as  heroes or martyrs.

The BO-PK majority would have wanted the three defectors to resign from their council  posts   but they  erfused so the majority bloc was left with no other recourse but to  bypass the defectors in referring proposed ordinances.

It’s  unfortunate but all of these occurences are  basically because of politics and the approaching elections in  May 2013.

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Another source of political confusion is deciding who   the Liberal Party of President Noynoy Aquino would support for  Cebu city mayor in  the 2013 election.

Incumbent Mayor Mike Rama is an LP member as well as  his rival Congressman Tommy Osmeña.  LP  secretary Jesse Robredo was in Cebu City recently. A meeting was called where  Liberal Party members like Osmena, Raul and Cutie Del Mar and others were invited but not Rama. This  led Rama to ask if he was  been punished by the party where he’s a law-abiding member.  He  complained to the party leadership  through Budget Secretary Butch Abad.  But many were not surprised by the LP action in calling a meeting  with  Osmeñ who  may have an ace up his sleeve in his elder brother  Sen.  Serge Osmeña  who is a respected independent minded Liberal.

Mike Rama’s strongest argument against Osmeña is the principle of equity of the incumbent, which gives preference to incumbent officials in the party,   and his role as a street parliamentarian during the darkest days of the Marcos regime.  But politics is  a strange animal whose mind no one can predict.

As the saying goes, there are no permanent enemies,  only interests.  One thing is sure,  the loss of Rama or Osmeña from the Liberal Party is a gain for  the party of Vice President Jejomar Binay.  The decision is in the hands of LP.

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Now that prices of imported oil products have gone up so high   public utility vehicle operators are seeking  another round of fare increases. Many  people  oppose the fare hike as an increase they can’t  afford  because the salaries of employees have not been increased.

Some taxi drivers aren’t happy with a proposed P50 flagdown either  because this would lead operators to increase the payment for boundary rentals of drivers.

The fare adjustment would just go to the operators instead of  the taxi drivers. The Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) should consider this in weighing petitions for fare increases. It would be fair for LIFRB to consider  that the public is also suffering the effects of  oil price hikes.  What is worse  is that many don’t benefit from a  salary increase. The opposition is very logical because while we  increase the prices of basic commodities  we have miserably failed to address  basic needs of the people.