It is a blessing to us, Cebuanos, that our mayor has a short reaction time, either by word or deed, to the actions of other government functionaries. We don't need to look around for patrons because he is there to take our cudgels. The mayor is ready with his rhetoric to scold anyone, which crosses his path, as he has his guns cocked all the time which trigger he would not hesitate to pull, in defense of the interests of the city, even if he had to shoot from the hips. This incident with the Solgen is a classic example of our mayor's character. Because the government lawyer assumes an adversarial stand against the city, Mayor Osmeña will not let it pass. And he begs for no more time to reflect before calling the Solgen show "shallow."
I like to believe that Mayor Osmeña, will not admit to filing the case questioning the qualification of Talisay as a city out of spite. No one can ascribe his move with any sinister motive without facing his vile language. To him, our city has a good cause of action. So that it has, to the mayor's self-righteous mind, become his solemn duty to fight the cityhood of Talisay.
No matter our differences of opinion, we suppose that our mayor's action against the city status of Talisay is being grounded on a perceived legitimate cause. As the city mayor, he has access to facts most of us ordinary citizens are not aware of. By extension, we too must be willing to admit that he is acting in good faith in so initiating the case.
Good faith being the given, Mayor Osmeña, however, needs to recognize that the move of Talisay City in claiming a portion, whether land or jurisdiction, of the South Reclamation Project, is also anchored on a pure conviction that its claim is valid. Our mayor can not pretend that only he acts in good faith and succeeds in accusing the other of something less than good faith. It just happens that the toe is on the other shoe. If our city chief were the leader of Talisay, he would have initiated an action for Cebu City's intrusion into its territory.
Mayor Osmeña will never admit that it his intention to make the Cebu City's case now at the Court of Appeals a leverage against our neighbor for it to desist from pursuing its territorial or jurisdictional claim to a portion of the South Reclamation Project. Anyway, I don't think he is that naïve as to entertain that that cheap bargain works. But, if that were the situation he underestimated the strength of Talisay.
Notwithstanding that he called Congressman Eduardo R. Gullas a land grabber, it is not the mayor's avowed hatred of the latter which prompted him to order his man-Friday to initiate the proceedings against Talisay City. His failure to read the consequences does. His consultant, upon his directive, must have carefully studied the case. Of course, he knows that what the mayor wants, the mayor gets. Consequently, because the mayor wants to file the case against Talisay City, his consultant must have whispered to his ear that there were certain requisites for a municipality to be made into a city which Talisay did not satisfy.
Solgen's apparent support to the cause of Talisay City is a hard pill to swallow. However, it is not necessarily "shallow." It is to Cebu City's advantage if we reckon the facts and the applicable law with objectivity and resort less to insult. How about it Mayor Tom?