A personal friendship must have been rocked

While I was on the road, few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a text message to listen to former Cebu City South District Congressman Tomas R. Osmeña, on his "daily" program over a radio station. I put under quotation marks the word "daily" because that was how my friend framed his text to me. My immediate reaction was to call my text informant to inquire what station was the former lawmaker broadcasting. I found out that he was exaggerating because he told me to listen to radio station DyAB of ABS-CBN.

It is true that we hear the former legislator often as a guest of highly-rated radio personality, Mr. Leo Lastimosa, but I still honestly believe that despite the regularity of his guesting in the morning show, that is not the "daily" program of the former representative.

He just happens to be a good source of information and that is why Sir Leo, I assume, makes him a frequent guest. If that frequency led my friend to conclude that the program is a "daily" talk show of the former congressman, he has his constitutional freedom to protect him in his wrong perception.

Anyway, I did ask my companion to eject the CD (of my favorite old songs that I brought along for that trip) from his system and tune in to Sir Leo's program on the AM band. Indeed, the former lawmaker was on the show.

He was virtually training his persuasive linguistic acumen on Hon. Joel Garganera, the chieftain of Barangay Tinago, Cebu City. He minced no words in criticizing the barangay captain. I was and still am, aware that they have been on extreme ends of opposing political configurations for many years but, the former legislator added sting to his language that morning, almost to the point of being virulent so that I could not help but share with my companion a few insights he might not have heard of.

I told my travel comrade that Barangay Captain Garganera and the honorable Cebu City Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos are, in my book, the best of friends. If I am not wrong, they were college buddies who shared common aspirations, delved in similar philosophy and talked of seemingly identical ideology. Naturally, they grew together into one mental frame that they projected in their social dealings.

When they went to politics, they helped each other design and pursue innovative campaign strategies and in many other ways more than brothers and sisters could imagine.

Even if the news item was public, I reminded also my traveling companion that Hon. de los Santos, just recently changed political alliance. Everybody heard of it. The honorable city councilor has left the Team Rama, under which she won a seat in the 2013 elections and crossed over to the camp of the former Cebu City solon while Capt. Garganera has remained a staunch supporter of mayor Rama.

In the light of "Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are", how would the lady city sanggunian member de los Santos take the harsh criticism aired by the former representative Osmeña against Capt. Garganera, her bosom friend and ally? Judging from the identity of their educational springboard, the similarity of their upbringing and the commonality of their aspirations, Hon. de los Santos could not just have swept away the venom of the language of former legislator Osmeña versus Capt. Garganera. Or in the first place, did she and the leader of her new political camp discuss, before they agreed to work together, how they would treat old reliable friends in the course of their new joint political undertakings?

Surely, if Hon. Garganera, did not hear the unfriendly broadcast himself, he must have been informed how he was severely criticized by the ex-lawmaker. It is very easy to understand that armed with that information of being the object of harsh language, he must have talked with his college buddy. Their personal friendship, even if rocked, must not have been severed with the change of lady councilor's political coat and so the call could he been quickly made. What transpired in their talk?

The matter of their expected conversation would probably not be publicly known. But, there is no doubt that if their belief in each other is that strong, both will come out in the open to say that the former congressman was wrong. End.