EDITORIAL — A fair chance

Last Monday saw the assumption of two new local chief executives; both are new to their roles. One, although a seasoned politician, is assuming the role as mayor of the Queen City of the South for the first time; the other with no political experience at all, is now governor of one of the most influential provinces in the country.

Yes, we are referring to Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival and Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro.

Both won stunning upsets against incumbents who were entrenched and experienced politicians, seen to have every advantage from budget to political machinery.

Baricuatro’s margin over former governor Gwendolyn Garcia is even seen as one of the widest in Philippines election history. While it is easy to chalk up her victory to her alliance with the very popular former president, this may not be entirely true. After all, her political ally in Cebu City, even more closely associated with the former president than she, performed poorly and only placed third in the mayoral race.

Archival’s victory is nothing to be sniffed at either; he dominated the incumbent mayor and a former mayor as well.

The people have spoken with their votes. It’s obvious they wanted a change in leadership, a new hand at the helm. It’s obvious they wanted a new character aside from the usual names and persons. So be it.

Given their mandate, it is now the duty of the previous officials to not hinder them in performing their roles and help them any way they can. There is always an adjustment period for any new administration, what more with one being led by someone totally new to a leadership role.

While this seems to be the case with former mayor Raymond, this doesn’t seem to be the same with former governor Gwendolyn. We hope she comes around to realizing that doing so will benefit the Cebuanos.

As the saying goes “vox populi, vox dei”, the voice of the people is the voice of God. The new leaders must be given a fair chance to prove their worth.