EDITORIAL - A door has opened for good governance

Cebu City councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, the chairman of the Citom, was reported as having said the guidelines concerning Citom towing operations are being amended and that incoming mayor Michael Rama is now drafting the guidelines for adoption by the traffic body.

According to Jakosalem, Rama wants Citom to focus its towing operations against vehicles that cause actual obstruction of traffic flow. Jakosalem said Rama also wants to increase the number of pay parking areas since parking fees make up the bulk of Citom income.

This is a very good development because the Citom towing operations, which it contracted out to private companies, have been a very controversial activity that contributed greatly to the widening of the gap between the government and the public it serves.

Because private companies conducting the towing operations for Citom derive income from the cuts they receive from towing fees vehicle owners pay the government for vehicles towed, the operations necessarily became very aggressive to the point of being abusive and oppressive.

And to think the operations were legally infirm from the start — launched on a mere agreement between the mayor and the towing companies. To save the mayor, the loyal city council belatedly granted him the authority to enter into the contract.

But now that that mayor is out and a new administration is coming in, it is time the good people of Cebu City get the decent kind of leadership the premier city in the south so richly deserves.

For Rama and Jakosalem, this new direction they are taking is a test of the true measure of their independence from the authoritarian rule of that mayor. Cebuanos have had enough of one man dictating what happens in the city.

Rama and Jakosalem have always been known to be good and decent people who just happened to be restricted by the overwhelming authority of one man. That man is not entirely gone. But a door has been opened to allow good men like Rama and Jakosalem to show their inherent goodness.