Is Mayor Osmeña joining PDP-LABAN?
I know of the existence of the extra-legal Barangay Mayor's Offices (BMOs) created by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña. No matter how one rationalizes it, BMOs have usurped the official functions of duly elected barangay captains. If the signatures of the BMOs are honored in City Hall transactions, over those of the captains, a subterfuge is inflicted upon the authority of the elected officials. When the power of the barangay captains is undermined, the will of the citizenry is circumvented. These BMOs arrogate unto themselves the office of the elected village chiefs. Since the mayor has only put up BMOs in barangays where the captains are not allied to him, it is easy to conclude that these are the political arms of the mayor.
That no one in the Team Rama has questioned the validity of the BMOs is intriguing: seen either as a brilliancy move of Osmeña or ineptness of Team Rama. The lawyers in Rama's camp are ominously silent, or do they thought that these mayor's surrogates are political power wielders also who may affect the political future of Team Rama? They have allowed to be out-maneuvered by Osmeña and, by tolerating BMOs, Team Rama has opened the way for the mayor to infiltrate its supposed bastion and erode its leadership.
Last Saturday, the BMOs met at the Guadalupe Gym, but only barangay captains, identified as Osmeña's allies, were there. Since no village captains-known to be supporters of Team Rama-were invited, it was a BOPK function, but my informant said it was a membership meeting of the Partidong Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban.The political nature of the BMOs was thus revealed: their participation in that meeting was designed to make them barangay leaders of thePDP-Laban.
The event carried some repercussions. First, it exposed the political direction of Osmeña: to be in the graces of President Rodrigo Duterte. The hidden agendum is to become the conduit of the party in the 2019 election, which can be achieved without Osmeña becoming a PDP-Laban card-bearing member.
This mayor's ploy is not without precedent. We remember that before Duterte became a candidate for president, Osmeña projected himself as an heir of a Liberal Party man. He publicized the picture of Ninoy Aquino, Gerry Roxas and Serging Osmeña in close huddle and, below it,was of their descendants-President Noynoy, Senator Mar and Mayor Tommy. From that picture, Osmeña projected his "yellow" color but, days before the elections, the "Lets DO it campaign"blossomed and we knew who the D and the O were to the total disaster of presidential candidate Roxas.
Second: We read of the affiliation of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella to the president's party and his designation as the party's city chairman. But, we also learned a woman is the city chief of PDP-Laban. A source said that Labella has not yet taken an oath of affiliation with PDP-Laban. In this air of uncertainty, Osmeña's BMOs and barangay captains reportedly marched into the PDP-Laban fold in fullforce. Do you think Osmeña surrendered his leaders to be placed under the leadership of Labella?
Third: It is not inconceivable that Osmeña and Labella might form a tandem as official candidates of PDP-Laban. The persistent high ratings of the president will be their beacon. In politics, there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
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