Is the eye of the storm coming or is it here?

Is the expected split between Mayor Michael Rama vs. Rep. Tomas Osmeña finally unfolding right before our very eyes? Just look that the headlines of the local dailies in the past few days and listening to the various radio commentaries, (the views are pro or against both Mike and Tomas, but we know who are for who because they are very obvious) you can sense that indeed the storm of this controversy is already a-brewing.

So the big question is when will the eye of the storm hit us? I’ll say that it depends on how these two allies within the Bando-Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) would prepare themselves for the ill-effects of this storm. I’m sure that both Mike and Tommy know that when they separate ways, it would be certainly be ugly and, for the media, rather entertaining. After all, it is generally known that Filipinos, eat, drink and sleep politics.

I’ll let you know that I already made a promise to myself that when these two split up; I won’t take anyone’s sides because both of them are my friends. I did it once when Tomas fought with Alvin Garcia and in the end it wasn’t worth it. My mentor, the late Sir Max Soliven, advised me “In a bar room brawl with two friends, it is best to get out of the bar!”

While the eye of the storm is not here yet, I would like to advise both Mayor Mike Rama and Rep. Tomas Osmeña to hold their horses while they can because this rift would certainly split up the BO-PK, a political aggrupation that has ruled Cebu City since 1988. Sure, one of them would emerge the winner, but at what cost? Already rumors are ripe that the reason why this rift has widened is due to certain issues linked with suppliers to City Hall, something which has yet to be substantiated. For sure, Mike knows the secrets of Tomas and the same goes for the latter!

But lest you already forgot, I’m one of those who truly believe in that dictum, “If there’s smoke, there must be a fire.” If you think that there was no corruption in the Cebu City Hall, just look at the headlines of The FREEMAN last Sunday which blared, “Four Former City Execs Convicted.” Now whether these executives acted solely on their own or were “ordered” to do so, we will soon find out. But it should be said that we do not relish a brawl between friends, which is why I encourage the two of them to mend their ways now before it is too late… or is it too late already?

* * *

We were all made to believe that when the Aquino government took the reins of power last July, he would institute the needed reforms to make government more responsive than it was during the previous administration. We’ll, we’ve already written that when my good friend, former Cebu City Urban Planning manager Engr. Paul Villarete was appointed as the General Manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), this was allowed even if the latter hasn’t run an airport. In other countries, this would have been totally unacceptable because experience is one criterion that puts a person in that position.

Now we learned that former MCIAA PR Department head Ahmed Cuizon has been named Regional Director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB). I will tell you without blinking an eye that Ahmed knows next to nothing about the LTFRB, so how can we expect him to improve its services?

Sure Ahmed maybe what we call a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) which in my book is a creation by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to have an “elite” type of government official, yet despite that, the government bureaucracy is light years away from giving us taxpayers the service that we deserve! Above all, the CSC never solved the problem of the poor casual gov’t employee who works for many years without permanency.

Let’s face it; the only reason why Mr. Cuizon got the LTFRB is pure, unabashed political patronage! I dare say that if Ahmed wasn’t the “bata bata” of Rep. Tomas Osmeña, he wouldn’t get this job! But then, all, and I mean all, without any exception directors of LTFRB got their positions thanks to our system of political patronage.

So now we do not only have Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III having an “on-the-job-training” (OJT) in Malacañang, we now have Ahmed Cuizon also doing an OJT in the LTFRB. If this was a private company, they could never hope to get this job until and unless they’ve had any hands-on experience as a junior executive of a company. But I’m willing to give Ahmed the benefit of the doubt. I will only ask him to fix one problem … to stop all jeepneys that are illegally parked on the streets instead of their garages. LTFRB rules states that no franchise can be given unless they have garages.

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.