Hating kapatid

Dear Editor,

Being helpful to the needy has always been an admirable trait. Children are introduced at an early age to the importance of giving and sharing. It wasn't so long ago (or maybe it is) that a local advertisement popularized the tag-line “Hating Kapatid” or sharing equally with a sibling.

However, in the case of the 400M pork barrel that Congressman Tomas Osmeña of the Cebu City South District diverted to the Province as donation to Congressman Eduardo Gullas, it is an undeniable fact that it is just wrong considering that the city badly needs that money to aid itself. The drainage system has long been ineffective and the reason for not having it upgraded has been money, the displaced illegal dwellers are still living in the streets because of the city's lack of money to secure their relocation sites, lawsuits from caterers are filed against the city for its failure to pay up in its obligations because of lack of money, if I would enumerate everything here, I would use a couple of pages of this paper.

This, by the way, is not the first time it happened. Just a couple of months ago, the papers have also reported of funding to Bohol which is baffling because Cebu City does not extend in any way to Bohol or any part therein no matter the proximity to Cebu City.

My point is, Cong. Osmeña diverted the money meant for the city's taxpayers to a constituent base who are also the beneficiaries of the pork barrel allotted to Cong. Gullas. In this case, it is not Mayor Mike Rama who is truly hurt by Cong. Osmeña's action but the people of the South District. I have not remembered the predecessor Congressmen Antonio Cuenco doing a similar act, probably because as a veteran in Congress, he knows that he will commit a wrong against his constituents.

The congressman's motto might as well be “Hating Kapatid” as in hating Mike Rama. (The pun of course is intended). 

It is one thing to donate a significant amount of money in cases of calamities or emergencies to another district but to donate a significant amount just to spite a political enemy at the expense of taxpayers is a criminal act.

People of Cebu let us act now to prevent this monster of a lawmaker in subverting every law just to up the ante in his political war against the City Mayor because in the end the City Mayor will eventually leave office whether he wins the next election or not. He is just one person and the victims that really matter will be you and your families short-changed because of a Congressman whose brain has atrophied.

Arnold C. Tugunon

Cebu City