At the thanksgiving party of BOPK recently the councilors-elect vowed to stay loyal to their party. This was their reaction to speculations that there was a possibility that some of them would switch allegiance to Team Rama, now the ruling team.
That was a good gesture, sticking it out with one's political group. Done at a time when the bitter juice of defeat was still fresh in the mouth of their guru, it was an admirable feat.
In any organization loyalty is the bedrock of strength. But to be of value loyalty should not be person oriented but mission oriented. Its directive force should be towards what the group is committed to do to bring about a better quality of life for the people, and not towards the political fortune or misfortune of whoever leads it.
Easier said than done, this viewpoint. Given our people's cultural imperatives, two aspects of which is tribal mindset and hero worship, the tendency to stick it out with the leader, come what may, is difficult to disentangle.
So hail, Leader, your very name is magic to our ears! Win or lose, your word is our command!
So what's the BOPK's command - now that it lost City Hall's leadership?
In that thanksgiving gathering no command was articulated. But a collective decision was arrived at: To protest the election of Mike Rama and Edgar Labella. Impliedly, the command was therefore this: Stick with us and support our move.
Will that protest prosper? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. The answer actually depends upon COMELEC and where the wind blows. Right now that supposedly constitutional body seems to sway towards the Pasig Office. How it will treat the protest, assuming it will be filed, will depend upon how the Liberal Party leadership will react to it. Remember Governor Gwen Garcia's suspension? Without it there was a big chance One Cebu party would have prevailed in the last election. And who was behind Gwen's calvary? Look, who was (and is) that woman's enemy number one in Cebu's political front?
Now to go back to that brewing electoral conflict, no less than Tommy Osmeña's leadership is at stake, which means no less than the party's fate is also at stake in this city's political landscape. Is the scenario of Cebu City under the control of another party acceptable to LP's titular head who is President Aquino?
In the 2013 “playoffâ€, PNoy personally campaigned for his anointed twelve. He batted for 12-0 but the outcome was 9-3. Even then observers say this lopsided outcome was really a vote of confidence for him. Since PNoy's man, Tommy Osmeña, did not make it in the last poll run-off, was this a vote of no confidence on PNoy's governance? Not necessarily so, seems to be the general observation. Actually, the President played it safe in his remarks during his pre-election visits in Cebu perhaps aware of Osmeña's diminishing acceptability. He did raise the hands of Davide and Magpale but beyond that he was more upbeat in promoting his senatorial bets.
There's no certainty then that PNoy will try to throw his weight to save Osmeña's leadership in Cebu City. The latter is a close friend of DILG's Mar Roxas, but come 2016 there's no telling where the Aquino clan's sentiment will be. Between Binay and Roxas, who was closer to the heart of Cory, the venerable mother of PNoy? Some people say the answer was clear in the 2010 elections when Binay came from behind and topped the vice presidential race. At this point in time, Malacañang seems to be doing a balancing act between Roxas and Binay. But as 2016 approaches there's bound to be a clear signal whom PNoy would want to succeed him.
That signal will come loud and clear with regard to Malacañang's reaction to the forthcoming BOPK protest. Remember: Osmeña is close to Roxas while Rama is a friend of Binay.