EDITORIAL - Rama better be careful what he wishes for

It did not take long for former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama to react to the announcement of Vice Mayor Edgar Labella that he was open to the possibility of running in 2019 for mayor, a position Rama is longing to retake. According to Rama, ambition and obsession can spell the death of his alliance with Labella. What Rama did not say was whose ambition and obsession he was referring to.

Rama and Labella are allies in the opposition Barug Team Rama party. They ran as a tandem for mayor and vice mayor, respectively, in 2013 and 2016. While both won in 2013, they met contrasting fates in 2016, with Rama losing to Tomas Osmeña and Labella winning over Nestor Archival. While it is understandable for Rama to seek a rematch with Osmeña, it is unfair to say it is ambition and obsession that fuels Labella's openness to run for mayor, if that is what Rama meant.

Ambition and obsession -it's either you have them or you don't. In the field of politics, however, it is almost unthinkable for anyone to credibly aspire for an elective position unless he is fired at the very least by some degree of ambition, and in some people, outright obsession. To say neither exists at the core of every politician is to be mentally dishonest.

So, was Rama talking about Labella's ambition or his own obsession? Or vice-versa? Whichever way the cookie crumbles, which seems to be the implied threat in Rama's reaction, it is wrong and unfair for him to ascribe to Labella that which afflicts all politicians, including himself. And if, as he warns, things could lead to a split or complete disintegration of Barug Team Rama if neither gives way to the ambition and obsession of the other, it is easy to see who the big loser will be.

And it is not going to be Labella. Labella has just been named president of the Cebu City chapter of PDP-Laban, the party of no less than the sitting president of the republic, Rodrigo Duterte, who incidentally has, on occasion, expressed public disdain for Rama. Under these prevailing circumstances, it is Rama who can't hope to match the kind of clout that Labella seems to be slowly but surely accumulating.

So, if talk revolves toward a possible split in Barug Team Rama or its complete disintegration, it is not going to be the knees of Labella that will be shaking in fear but Rama's. And the sooner he gets the shape of eventualities in the emerging new landscape, the better for his own survival. The 2019 election is more crucial for Rama than it is for Labella. To play his cards well, Rama has to be realistic and pragmatic is he wishes to stay relevant beyond 2019.