Fear descendsupon us

In the morning hours of the days leading to the May 2016 elections, I watched NBA games beamed live. Advertisements were plugged sparingly so sports fans like me watched almost commercial-free. Then, a set of local advertisements were aired. By local I meant those produced for local audiences. They were political ads designed specifically for Cebu City voters. Shown on cable TV and plugged in such a high-rating program, I had to conclude they were brilliantly conceptualized and expensive that they should be listed in the politician’s Statement of Contributions and Expenditures.

One ad I remember showed a woman who was robbed while riding on a passenger jeepney. Nobody came to help. From the viewer’s perspective, the scene was chilling and traumatic. The ads had a similar genre; Cebu City was not a safe place. Our peace and order situation was terribly mismanaged. Towards the end of such ads, Tomas Osmeña, then a candidate, would ask electors to vote for him because he was going to make the city peaceful and safe.

At the pain of sounding redundant, let me say it here again that our mayor is a brilliant propaganda strategist. Who would have thought of placing political ads in an NBA game?’ I assumed the rates were astronomical but the propagandist knew that he had the entire fan following all to himself. No other candidate thought of spending so much money to communicate with potential voters sans competition. The repeated bombardment of an allegedly crime-prone and unsafe Cebu City needing a hero like Osmeña was a masterpiece! Indeed, it is safe to conjecture a good part of those who voted him were persuaded by his propaganda.

Fast forward to the present with Osmeña as our mayor. Not very long ago he assumed responsibility for our peace and order. Truly, in his watch, two people went inside the residence of my lawyer friend Salvador Solima and shot him dead. A retired policeman who wanted to further his public service as a Kalunasan councilman was killed right in the premises of the barangay hall. There was a former Lorega-San Miguel councilman who suffered at the hands of assailants. The other day a PDEA agent was killed near the Capitol. At the very least, these are the high-profile cases we can enumerate in the past few months of Osmeña’s two years. I cannot list here those who were victimized by index crimes for lack of space.

Where is the boast of Osmeña that he will make Cebu City residents feel safe and secure? Was this not the message in his expensive political ad which he placed during a live NBA telecast? Incidentally, did he include this expense in his SOCE? Making the city peaceful and orderly is as basic a service as solid waste disposal and traffic management. Osmeña, without doubt, has been a monumental failure to address our garbage collection and traffic woes. The fear that engulfs is glaring evidence that our mayor is only good in propaganda.