The mayor, my friend

It was eight o' clock and the grind had just started. Then Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella sat as acting mayor as Tomas Osmeña was on leave. I tried to call Labella but he did not answer. The traffic jam in Mandaue City has just started, great. What a start to a news day. As I was dozing off in our dilapidated crew cab, my phone rang: it was Labella. He said he is able to give me a few minutes before his court hearing and we will meet at his law firm.

On the way leading to his office, I was greeted by familiar faces. They were lawyers who worked under the Rama administration who were partners of Labella. Inside, he greeted me and signaled his staff to go fetch us warm cups of coffee. After we wrapped up our interview on a topic I couldn't recall, he told me that I would be fit for law school. I laughed that off and said that if I were one day a lawyer, I would want to be under his tutelage.

In 2019, he was pushed against the wall to run for mayor. I knew that was not part of his plan but he did anyway.  Many times he would laugh when I would tease him on off the record moments on how stunning his political feat was. "We can all make it," he always tells us, which was a reference to his life story as a sea mishap survivor. That story hangs on his office walls, to remind him that he almost died but survived a tragedy.

Last year when ABS-CBN regional stations were announced to be closed, I received a phone call from him. I thought I was in trouble, as I have already misquoted him once or twice as a neophyte reporter. It was a call to ask about my state, "Are you okay?" That fatherly voice is still familiar to me. He told me if I cannot find a job after the retrenchment, he would gladly take me in. But I said his office is already too full and it was already past his midterm. "We can all make it," he told me and that he could always find a way around it.

I politely declined the offer and found myself elsewhere but that was a moment I wouldn't forget. The mayor of Cebu city, who was so engrossed in the pandemic response, took a few minutes off his busy day to show his concern for me. I did not see him as a source, as a mayor but also as a good friend.

His last few days in office were a point for me to monitor him remotely. He has refused to answer my texts and calls when he was already coping with the recurring illness that has ended his well-lived life. Looking back, there were times when I did not agree with him and doubted his capability. I guess that's just how it is in life but I know he will be sorely missed.