Vanity envelopes

It’s all about  envelopes in this round of the feud between Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and his former allies in the  Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan.

His critics  got the upper hand when it got hold of  envelopes bearing Rama’s photo and name. The envelopes were used to distribute the  P2,000 financial aid due to senior citizens as part of the city government’s welfare program.

The expose about  Rama’s “vanity envelopes”  is downright embarrassing.

The mayor found himself in the awkward position of violating his own memorandum.

City Hall’s administrator issued the March 1, 2011 memo addressed to “all city officials and heads of departments” exhorting them to comply with President Benigno Aquino II’s policy not to misuse government projects by branding them with his name.

With that, the pracice of putting up billboards and signages with the names, initial or pictures of public officials on government projects “is  hereby prohibited.”
Wasn’t it Rama who had this to ask about  buses and flyovers recently: “Why should an official want to place his name on projects?  Has he forgotten what his name is?”

The privilege of cutting him down to size belonged to  Rep. Tomas Osmeña, who has filed a charge of violation of the anti-graft law with the the Visayas Ombudsman’s Office.

Osmeña and his allies themselves aren’t innocent of the offense, however.

Flyovers, government buses, and skywalks in Cebu City have been plastered with their names for years.

It was only after President Aquino set a  new standard of decency in public life that these false symbols of ownership are coming down.

Rama’s misstep was political ammunition for the BO-PK indeed.  It also came at a time when a different  war is taking place over another favorite form of branded infrastructure.

Plans to build two new flyovers in Cebu City won’t have signboards or painted signs anymore but everyone knows whose they are.

Paid out of taxpayers’ money, the flyovers are still identified with their proponents, Rep. Rachel “Cutie” del Mar and her father Raul,the former congressman, of the north district.

Rama has firmly opposed the addtional flyovers all  the way to the Office of the President.

Osmeña accused him of trying to shoot down the flyover projects as a matter of envy. In the congressman’s view, Rama  didn’t want the credit going to the del Mars because Rama doesn’t have his own hard projects to crow about.

To the public, these are plain  examples of political self-promotion — branded flyovers and personalized envelopes.