Political props

Since late last year, probably in early December, former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña, whose wife Margot, a councilor, is seeking the mayorship in this year's May 9 general elections, started surfacing again in the news. As a public figure, this is not surprising. What raises the eyebrows is his chosen vehicle to get back into the public consciousness and be a factor in his wife's political ambitions.

Osmeña, believe it or not, has positioned himself as champion for vendors. Sorry but I just cannot fall for this ruse. And neither should the Cebuanos for whom this play is clearly being acted out. Osmeña is probably the last person anyone would associate with vendors. I do not have the space to go into detail but those who remember the Sto. Nino vendors and a hapless Lahug barbecue vendor will know what I mean.

Now, conveniently as the elections get closer, Osmeña is in the thick of opposition by some vendors to the modernization of the Carbon market, a project undertaken by the Cebu City government in partnership with a private firm. He has promised to provide the oppositors free legal services should they get into trouble. To me, this provides encouragement to make the situation in Carbon more tense than it already is.

That reelectionist Mayor Michael Rama stands as a formidable stumbling block to the burning desire of the Osmeñas to retake City Hall is what gives the involvement of Osmeña with vendors perfect sense. Otherwise, like oil and water, Osmeña and the vendors just do not mix. Sadly, because some vendors just cannot accept change nor see beyond the short term, they cannot appreciate that they are just being used.

What is even sadder is that there are other groups that are clearly also exploiting the vendors for their own goals. I would not be surprised if communist front organizations are at the center of the agitation. It helps fuel the communist narrative of oppression if trouble erupts in Carbon and the hand of the state is forced to instill order. The vendors in this regard are nothing more than sacrificial lambs in the altar of ideology.

Last Monday, a scuffle broke out between protesting vendors and market authorities trying to set up steel barriers meant to make movement easy and orderly. That little children were placed in the frontlines of protest is a jaded fingerprint of organized agitation rather than spontaneous objection. And what is so unreasonable in the plan for vendors to move to temporary facilities to allow work on the project to proceed?

Only those who approach the Carbon situation with agendas other than the ultimate betterment of all would find the project and its attendant short-term inconveniences, whether real, imagined or trumped up, unreasonable and objectionable. Those who see the long-term benefits of a modern, clean, safe, and orderly Carbon would surely be willing to make the temporary sacrifice.

The vendors must try to understand that there is no escaping the march of progress. Modernization is part of continuing and inescapable change. They have to accept that they do not live in a vacuum and must, therefore, learn to adapt to change. If it is any consolation in face of the disruptive character of change, at least it is government, their government, that is in charge, and would always look out for their interests.

Other interest groups and politicians only look out for what they can benefit from. If the vendors want any evidence, the fact that those meddling in Carbon are showing their faces only now when it is convenient for their own purposes is proof enough that they are merely being used. They are no more than props of those who have larger goals than commiserating with vendors.