Some thoughts on last Tuesday’s media leaders forum with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama:
Even if he did bring along his usual platoon of department heads, Rama was thankfully more open — not much but just as well — to local media, who started slow during the activity held barely less than two weeks into May 9.
While he was questioned on his plans for the city — how he deals with the mounting traffic at the Banilad-Talamban corridor which he answered by saying it will involve a lot of property owners setting back their lots in order to widen the road more and return the sidewalks to pedestrians and commuters — he did manage to deflect criticism of his governance style and programs by his chief rival, former mayor Tomas Osmeña.
When I did ask him about his rival’s criticism of his fiscal management which involved, among other things, the mayor’s tendency to draw up a “bloated budget” or an ambitious, multi-billion peso budget for his planned programs and policies, Rama’s response was mostly derision and attack of Osmeña and his Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) camp whom he considered as obstructionists to his programs and policies.
To be fair, the question could have been phrased a bit more specific, delving into related fiscal management issues such as the inordinate speed with which the Rama administration easily depleted the budget for the garbage tipping fees and the seeming inability of his department heads to provide a full accounting of the expenditures they spent in the past fiscal year.
Of course the mayor would point to his administration receiving the seal of good governance from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) as proof of the city’s fiscal stability in his watch.
But the disallowances from the Commission on Audit (COA) on items like the P20,000 calamity cash aid that had brought him another suspension somehow tarnishes that perception.
Still, Rama has a point when he said the BO-PK’s continuing obstructionist moves had prevented him from fully implementing his programs and decisions such as the full payment of the South Road Properties (SRP) loan and the multi-billion peso proceeds from the joint venture between SM and Ayala that had been held hostage by that case filed by a former prosecutor against the city government before the court.
I cannot help but wonder what the mayor’s development programs are since they are couched in motherhood statements and slogans like “SHINE” that may be catchy to some but sorely lacking in details to others.
That’s the advantage held by his rival whom Rama refuses to name because Osmeña can talk all day about his programs which are a lot more fleshed out and detailed.
But having dominated the Cebu City political landscape for decades until his upset loss to Rama in 2013, it’s no wonder Osmeña has the edge.
I can perhaps discuss at length the pros and cons of Rama and Osmeña, but others more knowledgeable and experienced than I have already elaborated on it far better than I could.
This I can say, though: at least, unlike other politicians, Rama has an original campaign theme song.
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Speaking of campaign theme songs, a popular band’s complaint about a certain local candidate using their song as a campaign theme song is yet another sad, telling indictment of the national government’s continuing dismal failure to enforce copyright/intellectual property laws.
But it’s no surprise considering that it’s common practice since time immemorial when variety shows use canned music taken from popular foreign and local artists during their spiels and contests.
A certain local congressional candidate uses a reworked version of Maroon 5’s “Telephone” to serve as his campaign song while returning senatorial candidate Miguel Zubiri had used a Willie Revillame song as his campaign ditty.
And advertisers freely use local and foreign songs for their commercial ads. If they do pay royalties, the amounts they pay are a pittance. So while artists like the late Prince and Quincy Jones are multi-millionaires, local artists like the late Levi Celerio pass away without so much as a centavo to their name.
Little wonder why this country’s economy doesn’t progress beyond services, imports and tourism. Its climate and officials discourage and disrespect creativity and originality.