Mayor Rama without BO-PK

If there’s anything that can be said about Cebu City Mayor Michael “Mike” Rama after he cut his umbilical cord with Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) last month, it is that he is confident he can push his own political agenda minus the support of Cebu City south Congressman Tomas “Tommy” Osmeña. To put it another way, Mike does not think Tommy, founder and BO-PK chieftain, is that dominant to be able to order the BO-PK-led council to do his will. Again, to put in a different plane, Mike thinks that as mayor he has powers that could cut through the BO-PK order.

That’s the impression I get as Mike continues to woo the City Council to attend his State of the City Address, which he will deliver in Plaza Sugbo today. As of yesterday, the mayor was still trying to reach out to members of the City Council to listen to his report, but many of them have other things to do today. Whether urgent or better than listening to the Mayor’s Soca, we really do not know.

I will not apply the word that somebody used to describe Mike when he announced that he will push for the selling of lots in the South Road Properties (SRP) because it is too harsh and demeans the local chief executive. Let me just say perhaps Mike is rather slow on the uptake, because if he will analyze what’s happening, he will begin to understand that after he left the party, the BO-PK-led council is thwarting all his actions and there’s really no point in asking them to support his programs. To continue to do so would give the sense that he does not get it at all.

First, on the matter of the Mike’s delivering his report before the City Council, we all know the Mayor’s Soca is traditionally rendered on July 1 to coincide with the inaugural session of the legislative body.

However, pwerte na gyung pagka-usab sa kamada. The mayor cannot just simply notify the council about his July 1 task because it would need the council’s invitation (read: approval). That’s according to Vice Mayor Joy Young, who is disinterested in official functions that headline the mayor. Young and some members of the council did not also bother to attend City Hall rites in observance of the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal. The occasion was led by Mayor Rama.

Anyway, when it was apparent that the Mayor will not be invited to the council’s inaugural session, Mike continued to make overtures by inviting council members to a dinner. They all declined, publicly at that. In the end, Mike made preparations to deliver the Soca outside City Hall.

The point of who authorizes the hiring of consultants by the council is expected to reach the courts because while the local chief executive maintains this power proceeds from the executive, the vice mayor thinks otherwise because the legislative department is not under the mayor. This is very tricky because while it’s the mayor who is authorized to make disbursements, the council has to uphold the mayor’s act first. That is the beauty of check and balance.

Mike will really have his hands full in the coming days because with Councilor Margarita Osmeña booked as chairperson of the committee on finance, observers say the proposed city budget prepared courtesy of the executive will be thoroughly examined, at best, or fought at worst.

In a sense, this is significant for Mike Rama because he knew this was coming when he bolted the party. He is trying to woo the councilors and some quarters are saying he could be making concessions. But Vice Mayor Joy Young is shutting the door on any deals by accepting the dinner invitation only if media is around.

Mike needs the cooperation of the council, no doubt about that. But judging from the temperament of BO-PK stalwarts, I don’t think that is going to happen. Things will be worse before they get better, according to my favorite wag.

In which case, Mike will have to identify the doable programs and accomplish as many as he can if he wants to make a difference in the life of Cebu City residents in the remaining two years of his term.

Only time will tell if Mike will stand his ground and not go back to the arms of Tommy’s BO-PK. Some councilors are actually praying for a reconciliation and many think this will happen in the long run because that is the nature of politics.