Cebuano interests above all

If he could only have his way, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young would have preferred to work with Tomas Osmeña as mayor. Under Osmeña, working arrangements were simple. He gave the orders, and you followed them. No ifs or buts.

But Osmeña cannot be mayor forever, or at least not beyond three consecutive terms. So, while Osmeña is taking up a diversionary career as a congressman, Young has to work with Michael Rama as new, if temporary, mayor.

And that is where the difficulty lies for Young. His heart belongs to Osmeña. Any order or directive from Rama grates against the core of his unabashedly pro-Osmeña being. He is torn between mandate and loyalty.

Young’s dilemma became more pronounced when Rama decided, in the interest of well-meaning Cebuanos, to be more cooperative with Governor Gwen Garcia, with whom Osmeña has been quarreling. If Young toed this new official line, Osmeña would be incensed.

And there is reason for Young to tremble mightily over that appetite-losing prospect. Young knows, as everybody else does, that he owes his political career to Osmeña. He is an Osmeña creation. Without Osmeña he is nothing.

Yet even now that he is already made, his continued success as a politician is still not assured. Osmeña can always pull the rug from under his feet the moment he displeases him, the same way Osmeña is now trying to undermine and undercut Rama, incidentally also his creation.

Like Young, Rama would have been nothing without Osmeña. But as is the way of all things, Rama is now mayor and cannot forever take his orders from Osmeña. That is not only insulting and demeaning, it is, more importantly, a betrayal of his mandate as duly-elected mayor.

Even Osmeña, deep in his heart, will have to agree that while people may have voted for Rama because of Osmeña, their expectation of him does not follow the same formula. Now that he is mayor, Cebuanos expect Rama to be his own man.

Rama may forever be grateful to Osmeña for taking him up and giving him the chance to bloom as a politician. But he will eventually have to consign his gratitude to the quiet pastures of his heart. He cannot let it dictate the kind of service he needs to render to Cebuanos.

And that is why Rama, after years of patiently enduring the dictates and sometimes the indignities from Osmeña, is now trying so hard to be mayor to Cebuanos in his own way, prepared to take responsibility for how it may turn out when his chance is done.

Independence, after all, comes with responsibility. And this is perhaps what Young should also consider for himself. Young must consider that he is vice mayor to all Cebuanos and not to Osmeña.

Young must realize, as it must have dawned on Rama, that he will be judged by Cebuanos not on his unflinching loyalty to Osmeña but by how responsibly he responds to the mandate he has been given by his constituents.

At this very moment in time, the only important thing to consider is that Rama and Young, as mayor and vice mayor duly-elected by the people, and not upon the dictates of Osmeña, have an obligation to Cebuanos to work as a team for the good of all.

Young must realize that while he is close to Osmeña, such closeness may not be forever. Sometimes all it takes is a tiny prick for friendship to dissipate. But his responsibility and obligation as a functioning member of the Cebuano community stays with him until the end.

Certainly, Young does not want to be judged by history as a man who compromised his responsibilities toward his fellow Cebuanos on the basis of whether these responsibilities were acceptable to one man or not.