EDITORIAL - Time for Rama to break free

For many years City Hall's spare tire, Michael Rama is finally his own man. And many hope that, having paid such a stiff price to become mayor, his dignity thrown in with the rest of the expense, the honor should be worth his while.

For what a big waste it would be if, after all his patience and sacrifice, of sometimes being forced to eat humble pie, Rama would end up still being the surrogate to the "real leader" calling the shots from Congress in the person of Tomas Osmeña.

Osmeña is in Congress as a matter of convenience. Barred from a fourth term as mayor, he had nowhere to go. But his real heart is not in Manila but in Cebu, especially in that huge piece of real estate called the SRP.

Osmeña wants to closely guard the SRP, and wants to do it by way of Rama if he cannot do so personally. And to ensure that Rama doesn't go astray, there is his wife Margot Osmeña in the city council, the perfect platform to launch a challenge in three years just in case.

But Rama has more at stake in being his own man as mayor of this Queen City of the South than by simply kowtowing to the Osmeñas to ensure his political survival. Lest Rama forget, he is in fact a Rama, a name made illustrious in the historical annals of this great city.

Don vicente Rama, the grandfather of Rama, is the father of the City Charter. This place in history exacts a heavy burden on the younger Rama to prove his own measure now that he has the opportunity to do so.

It is not clear if Rama has higher political goals at the moment. But what higher goals there may be, all of them would pale in significance to what the moment brings now that he is the mayor. It is in the city that the Rama legacy is forever etched.

So, will Rama parlay his destiny for political expediency or will he strive to make his own mark in the city that rests upon the Rama name? If he chooses to do that, he may well have to eventually turn his back to the forces that, admittedly, helped put him where he is.

Getting to be mayor had been a great challenge for Rama. Staying that way may prove to be an even greater challenge. And in the midst of this great personal and political challenge for Rama stand the unrelenting aspirations of Cebuanos who long to have their dignity back.