Having served a two-month suspension, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama needs another suspension—this time, a six-month penalty—like he needs a hole in the head.
Yet the prospect has become all too real as a copy of the Palace order was published in social media and in local media. And based on last Sunday’s press conference, the mayor was expecting the worst.
While Rama lamented the issuance of the suspension order as “appalling,” it bears reminding that the penalty was for the P20,000 calamity aid the mayor and the City Council approved for themselves and for City Hall employees despite doubts that they suffered loss due to the devastation caused by Supertyphoon Yolanda and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake, both nearly three years ago.
Regardless of the legal justification of the ruling issued by the Office of the President, the timing of the suspension order could not have come at the worst time for the mayor, vice mayor and 12 councilors.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to rule on whether or not to grant an exemption for the suspension since it falls within the election season. If the Comelec rules favorably, Rama can breathe easier and will again use the occasion to drum up public sympathy and support for his reelection bid.
Even if the Comelec doesn’t rule favorably, expect the mayor and his camp to make the suspension work in their favor in terms of campaign propaganda. This is something his rivals at Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) must have realized by now.
Rama’s harping that he is a victim of a political vendetta launched by his rival and the Aquino administration may likely gain credence with Cebu City residents especially the masses for whom the mayor has increased city cash aid to earn brownie points.
Councilor Margot Osmeña is right when she said that the suspension cannot be considered a political vendetta by BO-PK or the Liberal Party since there are eight BO-PK councilors who are included in the suspension order.
But in a highly charged political campaign season, where harangues and verbal potshots are traded and fly as fast as gunfire in a war zone in social media and all sorts of media, the facts and the truth can often get muddled and mired in the muck of propaganda.
So let’s ask again: if the Cebu City government had the cash to give to employees and officials as Christmas bonus, yet felt or was moved to guilt about giving them out due to the overwhelming, prevailing sentiment for the flood and quake victims of Cebu, why did they have to give it out anyway and label it as “calamity cash assistance”?
Whether it’s political season or not, the grounds for serving the suspension appear valid unless counter evidence is provided to refute that assertion.