It is high time for change to happen!

Tomorrow is the first year anniversary of President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte as President of the Philippines. His promise to usher change in us has really been delivered in the most unorthodox way. So in a sort of way, the election of a Davao City Mayor without any big ticket conglomerate support and a national political party behind him was unprecedented and gives us an idea that what this nation really needs today is a new kind of politics. Come on, we are just sick and tired of the old Aquino-Marcos political feud, which lasted four decades. That it has become nauseating!

I have been a journalist for nearly 30 years now. And when I learned that in Cebu City, there was a major shift in the numbers in the Cebu City Council, which ended with the majority group in Team Rama losing to the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) and thus in gaining the majority in the Cebu City Council, Councilor Margot Osmeña is now majority leader in the council, I ask: is this a real change in our political life?

Delicadeza dictates that Councilor Margot should have refused the position given to her simply because her husband, Tomas Osmeña, is the Mayor of Cebu City. Like it or not, people talk behind their backs that this speaks of another “conjugal” dictatorship, something that the Filipino people forcibly removed 30 years ago during the EDSA People’s Power Revolt. What we have is a “back-to-the-future” scenario!

But then all this sense of delicadeza disappears when it comes to regaining political power. So the question is, is this what we Cebuanos want to see happening in our beloved Cebu City? Shouldn’t we be moving forward, not just in our modern ways, but for our political life as well?

Indeed in this digital age where the voice of Millennials can be seen or heard in the social networking sites, these people want to see change in our political way of life. For instance, we have a situation where no one has stopped the noisy “diskoral” despite laws and ordinances designed to stop them. When our political leadership cannot even give their constituents a good night’s sleep, then there is something terribly wrong with that political leadership!

In contrast, we see good things happening in Mandaue City under the leadership of Mayor Luigi Quisumbing. In reference to this article, I would like to point out an editorial last June 22 of another paper on what is happening to Mandaue City in relation to what’s happening in Cebu City or Cebu Province for that matter. Let me reprint a portion of that article for your appreciation.

“No, this article is not about the viability or logic of the plan. We are mentioning this to illustrate a point about leadership. Quisumbing is a first time mayor and only in his late 30s. Since he took office, we have heard of a number of innovations that he wants to realize in Mandaue during his term, with the lifestyle zone idea being the latest.

“We always say that the reason the holding of free, fair and regular election is an indispensable for democracy is, because with it, the people are given the chance to express their will and change their leaders. What we forget, though, is what the regular change of leaders will bring: dynamism in governance. If leadership is stagnant water, elections serve to replenish it. Cebu City is the province’s main urban center and has been led by only two politicians in the past two decades. It is obvious that the city has become stagnant and has been feeding on its past glory and on the dynamism of the private sector.”

The editorial adds, “Part of the blame would be on intense partisan politicking and on its leaders losing their creativity and their capacity to think out of the box. Or why, for example, has its leadership failed to come up with a better solid waste disposal system? The same can actually be said of the Provincial Government, with its officials merely going through the motions of governing but not innovating. For all its faults, the administration of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia had better imagination as far as finding ways to push the province’s growth. Some local government units in the city do seem to desperately need new kind of leaders, those who are innovative and are not burdened by too much politicking.”

I dare say it is time for change to happen!

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