EDITORIAL - Grand plans

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has grand plans for the city-owned and developed 300-hectare South Road Properties other than just income generation. He intends to build in that humongous piece of real estate a new police headquarters and a public service complex.

The cramped Camp Sotero Cabahug has long outlived the efficiency and facility of being the headquarters of the police department of the country’s second most important city. Moving to a new one in the sprawling “future city” at SRP will serve law enforcement in good stead.

And putting together under one roof all the city government offices forced to lease space at private locations for lack of accommodations at City Hall will not only save the city money but also make doing business with these offices convenient for the taxpaying public.

But as said at the outset, these are just “grand” plans. Not that they are impossible to realize, under normal circumstances. But these are not normal times for Cebu City. The city is saddled with two mayors.

The elected mayor is, of course, Rama. But there is another mayor, Tomas Osmeña, who is calling the shots through the city council, which, rightly or wrongly, is increasingly perceived by most Cebuanos as his “rubberstamp.”

To do most anything, especially if it involves money or the allocation of property, the mayor needs authority from the city council. But with Rama and Osmeña fighting, securing council approval for these grand plans is like trying to thread a needle while having sex standing up.

The honorable city councilors, of course, resent the “rubberstamp” tag. But given their relationship with Osmeña, and their track record of actions, official or otherwise, in accordance with that relationship, there is little reason why they have to be known otherwise.

The grand plans of Rama have a clear and beneficial purpose. But in their path lies the greatest obstacle of all — political expediency. Is it expedient for the political careers of Cebu City councilors to cross Osmeña in the name of public service? Right. Definitely not.