EDITORIAL - Nothing to gain

Cebu City south district Representative Tomas Osmeña has been ill-advised in his move to file a case against officials of the Environmental Management Bureau and the developer of the Ciudad project over the alleged cutting of trees at its site in Banilad. He should right away fire those who fed him the wrong information.

Look, there was not a single tree cut down at the Ciudad property. Several reporters rushed to the site the day after he filed his complaint with the Ombudsman and observed that the trees are still there.

It would have been better if Osmeña double-checked his facts before proceeding to the Ombudsman to file his complaint. Obviously, his advisers have completely failed to do their homework.

Now, some quarters are beginning to think that his move is meant to purely harass the developer and other stakeholders of the project. While we still do not think he is diving below the belt in moving heaven and earth to halt the project, it is his constant attack that made many believe he is using whatever means to win.

In fairness to him, the congressman told The FREEMAN he was not sure of the report he gathered that at least 263 trees were cut down at the project site. Since admitting doubts as to the veracity of the claims, he should have summoned his men to look into the report. A quick visit to the site would have been helpful.

Well, we cannot blame some quarters to think that what Osmeña has been doing is plain and simple harassment. That is because ever since the proposal of the project was presented, he started using his power to block it. It seems he will never give the project a chance to materialize.

Because the lot on which the Ciudad is set to rise belongs to the province, whose governor happens to be his mortal enemy, the congressman seems ready to exhaust all his resources just to see it fail.

But for the good of the city, it is better for the former mayor to stop going against the project. He has nothing to gain from his crusade. Having committed to run for the City Hall in next year’s election, he will only stand to lose thousands of potential supporters who are hoping to benefit from the project.