Power over responsibility

The controversy between Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Banco de Oro is now before the courts where, hopefully, a judicious resolution can be expected at the soonest time. It is good that the matter has found its way to the courts because what went on between the two parties was something so important it would have been so disastrous to leave it to unpredictability and temperament to resolve.

Regardless of the issues involved, Osmeña, as leader of a metropolis that is host to about a million residents, cannot just threaten to close roughly two dozen branches of the country's biggest bank without threatening to cause a disastrous ripple effect that will affect the lives of millions more elsewhere. Good leadership is not just a matter of doing what one thinks is right, but in doing what is just for the great many.

Osmeña may think he is doing right by threatening to padlock two dozen bank branches he suspects of not dealing right with the city. But is doing so the just thing to do? Closing banks, or any establishment for that matter, is an easy thing to do. It does not require much leadership in doing. But seeing beyond the closure and dealing with the consequences require a certain level of great leadership.

For whatever it may be worth the city to close a number of establishments, the consequences of that closure will be manifold, depending on the number of people affected directly and indirectly. And then there are the ancillary lives, activities and endeavors that can be affected as well, all because a leader opted to simply kick in the door and blast away.

Even if it does not come to an actual closure, the mere threat of one can send the wrong signals radiating down every relevant spine not just in Cebu City but in other places reached by its influence. The exercise or threat of arbitrary closure is never conducive to progress and development, which Osmeña himself will have to admit, is likewise his objective, as it is with everybody else.

To be sure, Osmeña is well within his powers as mayor to order the closure of any establishment, even those that have the perfect right to stay open. Just as there are many ways to skin a cat, so is there a myriad of ways City Hall can go after anyone. There is just no fighting City Hall, as they say. But mere possession of power does not necessitate its unrestrained exercise.

Sure, Osmeña can padlock banks in the city, but would it be right to do so? More importantly, would it be for the greater good of the greater number if he does so? At the risk of being trite, that famous line from that famous movie hits the matter right on the nail — "with great power comes great responsibility." It is a choice Osmeña has to make, not for himself, but for the great many, in his city and out of it.

What makes a threat by Osmeña so scary is the fact that he has carried out threats before. And in all of them, power was exercised for its own sake, without any regard or responsibility for the consequences. There were, for example, the Santo Niño barricade, the SRP closure, the Talisay vendors shoo-away. In all of these is strung a common thread, a lesson Osmeña never seems to learn until now — that what is just always prevails in the end.

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