EDITORIAL - Mike can still do it if he knows how to play the game

If Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama feels he is being shabbily treated by Mayor Tomas Osmeña, he should not feel so all alone. If Osmeña cannot even get along with some of his own siblings and cousins, who is Rama to expect something different.

Rama may only hurt more because he has his own aspirations. Had he been like the other spineless members of the BOPK who bartered their own pride, dignity and independence in favor of political security, he probably would not have been hurt.

The problem with Rama is that he is too good and decent a person as to be almost naive when in it comes to politics, which is a game of hardball that leaves no ambiguous spaces in between. Either you are the dominant force, or you follow by the nose.

It did not shock anymore when Osmeña announced he was not supporting the bid of Rama to become the next mayor. Even if it did not come to that, wise politicians always have an extra parachute when dealing with people like Osmeña, who believes he is the son of God.

Only Rama was genuinely shocked. Even when the signs were already apparent, Rama continued to believe that if there is an inherent goodness in a person, then Osmeña could not be an exception. How terribly mistaken he was.

So now what will Rama do? He says he will still try to patch things up with the mayor. Oh, for God’s sake, Mike. If even Cardinal Vidal cannot talk sense to Osmeña when he barricaded the gates of the Basilica del Santo Niño, who is Mike Rama to be able to do that?

The best thing for Rama to do under the circumstances is to swallow the bitter pill that in this city, as well as in the BOPK, there is only one voice that is heard. And whether he likes it or not, whether BOPK members like it or not, that is the reality to deal with.

But all is not lost. Osmeña is battling a battle far worse that his worst political nightmare, at a time when he is legally disqualified to run for another term. If politics is a business, businessmen would have called the situation as ripe for opportunities.

The BOPK is only as invincible as people would like to believe it. Actually, at no time in its history has the BOPK been more vulnerable than now. Osmeña is of uncertain health and cannot run again. How level a playing field can people still expect the situation to be?