EDITORIAL – Mayoralty obsession

Encouraged by a high trust rating, former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama has made up his mind. On Saturday, he declared his intention to run for the city government's highest position in next year's mid-term elections.

Rama, with less than a year before the 2019 polls, is still entertaining the thought that he was cheated in the 2016 elections. "I won and I was cheated. I must win again. As Barug Team Rama, I am running for mayor," he told The FREEMAN.

Nothing is final, however, until the certificate of candidacy is filed. Although his political plans for next year are still up for discussion with his group, the former mayor said Team Rama already has a lineup for the next elections.

Rama seems to be prioritizing his plan to take another shot at City Hall. He seemed focused on moves to snatch back the position he always claims was rightfully his but was stolen from him in the 2016 elections.

Rama seems to have forgotten the fact that he has a bigger mission ahead that he should prioritize if he wants to survive politically. And that mission is far more urgent than the one fuelled by his mayoralty obsession.

It would be better if Rama first settles the score about the illegal drug allegations against him. It can be recalled that it was President Rodrigo Duterte himself who accused the former mayor of being one of local officials involved in drugs.

If he is really not involved in drugs, Rama needs to clean up his image tainted by the accusation by seeking an audience with his accuser, the president himself, and show proof of his innocence, that all allegations are just purely allegations.

Once cleared, Rama can then have all the time in the world exhausting his resources in his drive to bring back his political glory. Prioritizing mayoralty ambitions in this time when the drug allegation is still hanging over his head like the Sword of Damocles can be politically fatal.