EDITORIAL - Closer to the arms of LP

It seems that death is around the corner for One Cebu, which used to be the most dominant political party in the province. As far as the present situation goes, it seems the political arm of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia would soon be a thing of the past.

If this paper's page one photo days ago showing some One Cebu mayors sharing light moments with Governor Hilario “Junjun” Davide during a visit to the Capitol would prove, it would not be hard to believe that the days of the once biggest political group in Cebu would soon be over.

Well, the visit of at least 10 mayors from the south was not actually to pledge allegiance to the Liberal Party, whose provincial chair is the new governor. They were there to extend support to the new administration of the province.

It was Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong who opened up the meeting by saying they came to support Davide's programs and projects. Of course, such statement was expected from them. For One Cebu local chief executives to get the Capitol support, extending the olive branch is necessarily the first thing to do.

While there was clearly no sign of jumping ship, the mayors' gestures bear clear signs that they wanted nothing more than Davide's support. But getting the Capitol support for their projects would only mean bringing them closer to the arms of the Liberal Party.

Of course, it was a right move for the One Cebu mayors. This considering the fact that their party chair no longer has the goods to lead them mounting a winnable battle against a resource-rich administration party.

Garcia may still hold a huge influence over the One Cebu mayors. But since the party no longer calls the shots at the Capitol, chances are high that some of them would be tempted to bolt and join the administration party.

It has been proven that, in politics, those in power are the ones who have more allies. So it would be a matter of time before we see a mass exodus of local leaders to the ruling party.