It may or may not happen but Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama seems convinced that a six-month preventive suspension order is waiting for him later this year.
Hence, his declaration that he would be ousted “over my dead body”.
That must have been rhetoric to show that he won’t easily be beaten down by his opponents’ attempt to cripple him in the run up to the 2016 elections.
We hope Rama didn’t mean that if an order is issued, whose validity he has a right to question in court, he won’t be digging his fingernails in his executive chair and refusing to leave the building short of being bodily carried out.
That sounds like too much drama reminiscent of the Capitol stakeout that had former Cebu governor Gwen Garcia digging in her heels, and spending Christmas, New Year and the Sinulog in her east wing office at the Capitol for two months in defiance of a six-month suspension from Malacañang. In the end, she still had to serve out the time, shut out of government office.
The mayor drew a comparison of his ordeal with the case of Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay, who is facing corruption charges in relation to the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall building.
That would not be flattering at all to be compared to a Makati kingpin, whose family’s enrichment in office has set new standards for power tripping.
The grounds for a suspension, as most know by now, stemmed from the complaint of a lawyer identified with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).
The motive was clearly political. The issue –– the legality and propriety of approving and releasing P25,000 in calamity aid for each City Hall official and employee despite the absence of evidence that they suffered damage from the Oct. 15 2013 earthquake and supertyphoon Yolanda – is substantial.
Whether the matter leads to a suspension, only the DILG and Office of the President can tell.
Bravura statements, at this point, only heat the air for a day or so. If a suspension comes down, one has to deal with it with dignity, we hope.
Till then, there’s work to be done in a city full of urban growth challenges – garbage collection, traffic, cash flow and a police force whose Fuente station is leaving a blackeye in its handling of street children.
A suspension isn’t fatal if one’s track record of performance is solid and allies stay loyal.
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