We are starting to see a change in the image (or personality?) of Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella. As a public figure Labella has managed to stand as pliant as bamboo and stay away from conflict. When he entered politics, he appeared to be a calculating "yes" man to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, whose leadership he never questioned. There were issues that called for him and other officials to make a stand, but Labella only parroted Osmeña or stayed silent. Even when he allied himself with Michael Rama in 2013, he said nothing against Osmeña. That led people to believe he was an Osmeña fan through and through.
Now Labella has unsheathed his sword. It was time to make his opinion heard. Among the very first words Labella uttered that ascribed serious lapse in the administrative control and judgment of Osmeña was "monster." Labella called Osmeña a monster when newsmen asked his opinion on the cataclysmic traffic in the city's south district.
Why has Labella become disrespectful? Have their philosophies of governance differed? Let my answer be anchored on what I see, although I will be happy to be proven wrong. To me, it is all politics of personal convenience. There is no ideology involved as I wonder if they ever shared common political thought at all. While we hear from them public welfare, it is but a linguistic cosmetic to a hidden personal agenda.
Last week, Labella, some councilors, and a few Cebu Congressmen, attended a PDP-Laban orientation in the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The legislators asked that the orientation be considered a Basic Membership Seminar (BMS) so that they could proceed to taking their oath as full-fledged PDP-Laban members. With the party unable to disregard such plea, I suppose there shall be a membership oath taking soon.
Having undergone the BMS, Labella feels secure the chairmanship of the party is his as the highest elected city official under PDP-Laban. Unfortunately, the barangay captain allies of Team Rama did not go through the BMS and are not Labella's PDP-Laban party mates. Here is an added twist; Labella knew that few weeks before the BMS, the people composing the Barangay Mayor's Office also imbibed the principles of PDP-Laban. They were accompanied by barangay captains loyal to Osmeña. So we have to assume those BMOs and BOPK-aligned barangay captains are now PDP-Laban members.
To force the question of who should lead the PDP-Laban in the city, Labella had to look like a fighter. He needs to show he can make a stand against Osmeña. Thus, when the chance came, he described Osmeña a "monster" to begin a probable charade.
I label the looming verbal tussle a charade because Osmeña did not probably expect a usually coy Labella to be feisty. Osmeña had to be stung by uncharacteristic vitriol. His reaction was not measured. Osmeña countered with a blow that boomeranged, accusing Labella of doing nothing to address the traffic problem in his 15 years in government. No new road was opened while Labella was councilor or vice mayor, as if it was his call. Osmeña tried to mislead Cebuanos considering that he has been the virtual leader of this city since 1988! What a charade! If it simply meant that had our leaders built roads these last 30 years we would have no traffic problems today, we now know whom to blame.