EDITORIAL - Knowing the measure of men

Two statues recently went up in front of the Cebu City Hall. One is of the late Don Vicente Rama, the father of the Cebu City Charter. The other is of the late Sergio "Serging" Osmeña Jr., a former mayor of the city. Mayor Michael Rama, grandson on Don Vicente, caused the statues to be erected. But former mayor Tomas Osmeña, son of Serging, is not pleased. He suspects Mayor Rama built the statue of Serging to justify the statue for Don Vicente.

Tomas is of course entitled to his own opinion. But his comment about the statues is wrong, unfair, baseless and illogical. Mayor Rama does not need to justify his erection of the statues. In case Tomas has forgotten, Mike Rama is now the mayor. When Tomas was mayor, he pretty much didn't need to justify anything. Tomas only invokes the need to justify now because he is no longer friends with Mike, just as he is no longer friends with almost everybody, which says a lot about him.

Nevertheless, even if we take Tomas on his word that Mayor Mike only built the statue for Serging as an excuse to build the statue for Don Vicente, that sounds very strange for a son to talk about his father. Does Tomas think so lowly of his father Serging that he would believe the only way his father's memory can go up in a memorial is as a justification for the erection of a statue for another? How pathetic naman.

To most Cebuanos who are able to keep an open mind, Serging Osmeña deserves a commemorative statue. Whoever causes it to be built and whether it is built with another is only incidental. But if his own son believes the only way this is possible is if it is used as an excuse to build a statue for another, then clearly we have a problem of perception here. And the problem lies not with the Cebuanos nor with Serging. It lies somewhere else and you should know where.

On the other hand, Mayor Rama does not need to build a statue for anyone to justify the building of a statue for Don Vicente. Again, it is only incidental that Mayor Rama is the mayor. Any mayor who has a sense of pride, honor, responsibility and fairness would feel compelled to build a statue for Don Vicente without the need to justify it. Again, as mentioned earlier, Don Vicente Rama is the father of the city charter. So what need for justification is there?

In fact, the question that begs to be asked is why it never occurred to Tomas, when he was still the mayor, to build a statue for Don Vicente. Anybody whose thoughts are unbeclouded by political suspicion and intrigue will tell you that you do not need any justification to build a statue for the father of the law that made Cebu City a city.

Rather than look at the development negatively, Tomas ought to thank Mike for also building a statue for Serging when he could have built just one for Don Vicente. How a man reacts to situations is often a very good measure of determining the kind of person that man is. Had Tomas shown up for the unveiling of the statues despite his quarrel with Rama, he would have come away a better man in the eyes of everybody. He would even have upstaged Rama if he wanted to. Sayang.