Our independent mayor!

A month ago, the officialdom of Cebu City held the very serious occasion of retiring worn-out flags. I saw the ceremony on live stream through the wonders of the internet. Believe me, it was the first time in my life to witness how the national colors should be retired that I assumed it was done according to strict protocols. The scene was already touching but Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama made it more dramatic. Earlier in the ceremony, he was pacing the ground with his usual smile removed from his face. While normally he would tap the shoulder of almost everyone along his way or engage him in a laughing banter, the mayor then was noticeably morose although not necessarily unfriendly. He was a different Michael Rama that day, May 28, 2023.

When Mayor Rama finally took the microphone, he stunned his audience. Varying a little bit from his inimitable verbosity, the mayor declared “independence” (from I did not know then what) and proceeded to pronounce sole allegiance to the people that he was serving! This time, he was more direct to his point. No ad libs. Like Romans heeding Mark Antony’s “lend me your ears” the people at the Rizal Park gave Rama undivided attention. Indeed, the crowd, otherwise usually less attentive, was definitely hushed by both the novelty of the topic of his elocution and the profundity of the idea. It was substantively different from the usual “my langga Malou” speeches of the past. The seeming seriousness of the subject necessitated upon the public in attendance to try to comprehend what the mayor was talking about. Aha, even this article is an attempt to fathom Mayor Rama’s thought.

From among the many attempts to interpret and give meaning to Mayor Rama’s pronouncement of “independence”, the political angle prominently surfaced. The mayor was freeing himself from the bonds of politics and I was thinking of his breaking his links with national politics. The thought was natural because the mayor talked about serving his constituency, service to the country being a principle common to all partisan groups. To fulfill his mandate, he probably felt the need to disregard and cast aside all directives that are supposedly inscribed in political party doctrines. Thenceforth, the mayor would be guided more by the interests of Cebuanos than by what his political party, the PDP-Laban, wants done.

Recent events can be used to understand Mayor Rama’s independence declaration and this should be his independence from whatever connection he had with local party politics. One such event took place in an expensive resort in Boracay. I was informed that the mayor brought barangay officials there including personalities belonging to the mayor’s Partido Barug as well as those who are stalwarts of BOPK. Parochial political mentality would have forced the mayor to bring only his loyal partisans to luxurious gatherings. A politically-independent mayor, on the other hand, treats elected city and barangay officials to pricey adventures like the Boracay trip, without regard to political color.

By the way, there is a possible unpleasant ramification that can spring forth from the Boracay escapade of the officials of Cebu City and its barangays. It involves money. Is 200 a correct figure of the number of barangay leaders whom the mayor tagged along? The expense of such outing could amount to millions of pesos and certainly not minuscule. Of course, Rama, a truly independent mayor, politically speaking, could afford to foot the bill without relying upon the political party, he has declared to be free from. But, it was not impossible that the city paid for such junket. In that event the probable justification of the expenditure to pass COA audit review is that it was development-oriented. Such rationale could be propped by the fact that political leaders from opposing sides joined the independent mayor in an out-of-town affair. Behind my apprehension is the hope that such justification is acceptable to the people.