EDITORIAL - A 'reluctant' congressman

Outgoing Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña expressed interest in the top post of National Economic Development Authority. He said he would accept the position of NEDA director general if the next president, Senator Benigno Aquino III, will offer it to him.

Osmeña, the newly elected congressman in the south district, said his interest in the post stemmed from his desire to help local government units get foreign financial assistance for their projects.

Since it is responsible for economic development and planning, NEDA is vital to the realization of projects of the LGUs. And Osmeña must have realized he can use his managerial skills if appointed as its chief than being boringly trapped in the halls of Congress.

But this raises a question as to whether the incoming congressman really wanted a seat in the Lower House. As we see it, the mayor ran for congressman because he has no other recourse in his political life. The law clearly stated he is barred from seeking for a fourth term.

Osmeña has never been elected into any legislative body. He had spent all his public life perfecting his managerial skills while running the affairs of the city. So running for vice mayor or city councilor was definitely not an option for him. 

So why was he running for Congress when, in fact, he does not even have any legislative skills? Only the mayor himself can explain that.

However, there are two reasons we see why he instead opted to run for Congress.

First, he decided to run because he does not want his number one critic, businessman Jonathan Guardo, to win. Guardo has the resources to give any opponent - except for Osmeña - a run for his money.

Osmeña's strategy has worked well. He was not only defeating Guardo by a huge margin, all his partymates had won.

Second, he ran for Congress to protect his flagship project - the South Road Properties. The SRP is Osmeña's "baby" and he does not want to lose control of it while he no longer holds the city's top post.

So Osmeña may well become a case of a 'reluctant' congressman. Now he has no choice except to rub elbows with Manny Pacquiao, Cutie del Mar, Luigi Quisumbing and Arturo Radaza, all first-time lawmakers.