To list or not to list

Finally, His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, has let his heart out. Pissed by an unending stream of "friendly fire", he spoke with conviction when he revealed to us that the administration of his predecessor, the Hon. Congressman Tomas R. Osmeña, left about 300 things undone. The mayor said that the past chief executive did not accomplish nor deliver such number of basic services. Ouch! Without so saying, that was his apparent reason why he could not follow the administrative directives of his former boss. He was fearful that, in acting like the kind of lackey his erstwhile political boss took him to be, his term would also (underscoring and bold font mine) end a failure.

The next question must be raised. Is the list of Mayor Rama of the failures of former Mayor Osmeña, accurate and valid? Or is it only produced to parry the rapier thrust aimed at the preferences he allegedly gave to Atty. Joy Pesquera and Mr. Rene Mercado? Let us consider first that he served as the vice mayor for 9 solid years and before that, also for the same number of years, as councilor. Any good student of public service, must have learned what the people need from their government leaders. I would like to believe that the new mayor is such sensitive to his people's needs that he must have identified these "things to do".

That being the case, the list of the things now Rep. Osmeña failed to give to Cebuanos, when he was our mayor, must be as solid as the foundations of the Great Pyramid of Egypt at Gizeh. It could be subsumed that Mayor Rama was determined not to repeat the failures his predecessor. By keeping such list, the new mayor has identified the things he has to address if he were to succeed as our chief executive. Rectify the errors of the past administration of former mayor Osmeña, must be the battle cry of Mayor Rama and the guideposts of the latter are those that are contained in his list.

The only trouble being that Mayor Rama, as evidence of his high respect to his political benefactor, did not show to us this list. (Has he?). He was coy. By portraying only to be factual (which is presumed from the listing), he did not want to appear on the offensive. Rather than seize the upperhand by detailing where the former mayor failed, the new city top honcho attempted to remain less combative by keeping the list away from being publicized.

There is the perception that to advance his own political agenda, Mayor Rama has to stand on his own. Its rough translation is to break away from BOPK. If the people around him had their way, the mayor must cut and cut cleanly his ties with the south district congressman. They saw the opportunity when the mayor waved the list. But, they did not get what they wanted. Up to that day, the mayor continued to hold his punches.

Unfortunately, this was where the mayor was unfair to his former boss. By waving the list to the public, he started attacking the past city administration. But, remember that what he did wave was the supposed list. Mayor Rama did not spill the beans, so to speak. Yes, he missed to tell us what were these things included in his list. We have no way of seeing for ourselves whether these are imaginary or real indicia of the failures of former mayor Osmeña.

The honorable congressman does not have to defend himself yet. There is no bill of particulars of the things he should have done as a mayor yet did not. Unless the new mayor has the guts to reveal these items contained in his "list", we assume that the mandate we gave the former mayor in all his political contests in the past was a thumb up sign of approval. After all, he who alleges has the duty to prove his assertions.

The events that may unravel in the next few days are worth the waiting. We shall know if the list of the mayor is a true litany of how the city was mismanaged by the former mayor or it is a bluff that has to be thrown into the basket of the useless things.