EDITORIAL - Character tests on charter day

It is unfortunate that a number of Cebu City councilors were nowhere to be found during the charter day celebration of Cebu City last Tuesday. Many of those who did not show up were members of the opposition BOPK, although two who used to be identified with Team Rama were also not seen during the program. Whether or not politics had anything to do with the no-show remains to be seen. But the fact is, it is unfortunate that these councilors were not there.

It is unfortunate because the affair was the Cebu City Charter Day. By its name alone, the celebration was clearly about Cebu City. It was not the birthday party of some official or official's wife. As it was a celebration of Cebu City, it becomes a matter of course for every official of Cebu City, regardless of political color, to be there.

There are a lot of affairs, activities and gatherings officially involving Cebu City that some city officials may be forgiven for not attending. But when it is the Cebu City Charter Day that is being celebrated, it goes without saying that each and every official of Cebu City should be there. That much they owe Cebuanos whose name they conveniently invoke when it suits their purposes.

Just think of the great honor and dignity these councilors can claim each time they invoke their offices and titles in the name of Cebuanos. Just think how many privileges and perks are laid out for their enjoyment and benefit on account of their being honorable councilors, holders of a sacred electoral mandate as representatives of the people.

And yet, on the one occasion that calls for their presence as representatives of the people, as the embodiment of the shared pride of Cebuanos in the glorious heights to which their beloved city has risen, these councilors have chosen to be absent. What a big letdown. What a big disappointment. What a painful betrayal. What a lamentable stab in the back.

How can these people go back to the campaign trail in 2016 and face the electorate to beg for their votes so that they can represent them again when they failed to do so in the one time that unity was demanded for the sake of the city. The charter day celebration is a celebration of the city. It is an apolitical rite that celebrates the place, the people, its history, its culture. It is the city's birthday, not a political rally.

It is unfortunate for many councilors to make themselves scarce on this day because it inadvertently exposed the shallowness and myopia of our so called representatives. There is no shortage of opportunities to manifest political feelings. To mistake the Charter Day as one of them says a lot about the true character of those whom the Cebuanos have the great misfortune to be represented by.