EDITORIAL - The things done in charity’s name

It is sad that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña had to cancel the city's P12 million financial assistance to Ormoc City and Surigao City, which both suffered from two recent natural calamities. It is sadder still that the cancellation appears to stem from nothing more compelling than personal pique over what the mayor thinks is the lack of interest of both cities to promptly avail of the assistance.

It seems that in the eyes of Osmeña, Ormoc and Surigao have not been quick enough with the official processes required to accept the assistance, like approving a resolution to that effect. In the words of Osmeña: "They are not doing anything. They are supposed to pass a resolution. They did not pass a resolution. I am taking this as an insult. We are trying to be nice to them. We are trying to assist them."

And there lies the problem. Sometimes, when we are in a position to give, we feel a certain sense of entitlement. We feel that those who are in need of what we can give must drop everything or else what is to be given can be cancelled or withdrawn. That is not real giving. That is not charity. That is not real sympathy. That is giving with an expectation of a return that is even bigger than what is to be given.

It is good that things turned out this way. At least Ormoc and Surigao now know the real score. Now they know what the true content of the aid package was. And it is assistance that did not come sincerely from the heart but from a desire to be acknowledged, to be recognized, to be heralded. Any desire to be sincerely of help always comes with understanding and patience and, quite often enough, even with anonymity. But it appears the offer of help by Cebu smacks of everything the opposite.

Maybe, because everything is official, Osmeña was being pressed for time. Maybe there are limitations governing such assistance. But he could have matched Cebu City's fine gesture with greatness of character. If Osmeña truly wanted to give, he could have set into motion his communication network to prod the sluggish recipient machineries into action.

The worst any donor could do is humiliate the donee and humiliate him publicly. If in his assessment, Ormoc and Surigao seemed disinterested in the aid offered by Cebu City, Osmeña could have sent official communication to seek clarification in this regard. To make a grand spectacle of withdrawing the aid embarrasses the good people of Cebu City from whose taxes the aid was supposed to have come, not from any single official no matter how highly placed.