Accelerating political moves
Before I started to write this article, I warned myself against the possibility of writing the wrong year, 2017, to complete the date January 4. I planned on getting it correctly—2018. But when I scribbled the date today, I realized that it signified something more: We are beginning a year when politicians start their moves in preparation for 2019.
In Cebu City, some of them commenced building political blocks much ahead, such as when, sometime in the fourth quarter of 2017, the City Council members of a group opposed to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, took their oath of affiliation as Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban partymates. To observers, the turning of the Team Rama coat to that of the party of the country's president, was in anticipation of the electoral skirmish next year.
My wise friend belatedly said the move of Team Rama councilors to join the PDP-Laban was however not unexpected. The political party of a sitting president always enjoys distinct advantages in any mid-term elections, which is what the 2019 polls is. Logistical abundance, organizational superiority and administrative clout are among the pluses when a candidate is sheltered under the president's canopy. My friend said it is not surprising for the Team Rama councilors, to do everything to secure such benefits. The earlier they did it the better for them because it would afford them enough time to make their machinery work.
However, the shift of party affiliation was ill advised. My friend described it as not plain desertion by party members of the principles of Team Barug(name of their party reportedly registered with the COMELEC). Disloyalty to a leader was his more accurate word, and I agreed with that. Was it not the president who gave former Mayor Michael Rama, a derogatory label? Before they jumped ship, they should have thoroughly examined the various angles to this question: "If Rama is their leader, is it not disloyalty for them to align with the person who imputed a form of criminality on their leader?" My friend and I surmised that they have known in advance the consequences of their move.
One effect of their joining the PDP-Laban is to follow party decisions. President Duterte cannot allow Rama to be his party's candidate for mayor in Cebu City without eroding even more his credibility. So, when Team Rama councilors vowed allegiance to PDP-Laban, they knew that their mayoralty bet could be a person other than their erstwhile leader.
We have heard that work has begun to make Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, PDP-Laban's candidate for mayor in 2019, against the expected re-election bid of Osmeña. Malacañang has reportedly given this marching order. Judging from some pronouncements recently made by these turncoats, I discern that this thought process of the national party in power jibes with those of the new partymates. To PDP-Laban, Rama is a spent force and it can go ahead without him.
Mayor Osmeña shall be amused by this unfolding development. I expect him to strengthen his group to do battle against the president's bet. It is Rama who must seriously consider this accelerating angle of some political moves if he still plans to get back the city mayorship. In the next few weeks, the picture gets clearer.
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