A page of statesmanship probably lost

This is a sequel to my article last Thursday entitled Wrong Assumptions. In that previous column, I pretended to have divined the mindset of the Cebu City South district representative in his making an offer of substantial funding to his fellow lawmaker from the first district of the province. If only to recall the parameters of the points raised there, I perceived of some assumptions, which I ascribed to have been supposedly made by the honorable lawmaker. While I deemed them plausible, I concluded that they, nevertheless, were wrong.

Today, I will attempt to view the same issue, this time, from the other side. I mean the angle of the legislator from the first district of the province. Like how I approached the subject from the probable perspective of the congressman from the city, I will dwell on it in the realm of probabilities too.

Let us believe the news account that in a legislative forum, Hon. Tomas R. Osmeña, offered to Hon. Eduardo R. Gullas, the brother of my publisher and the owner of the law school where I teach Constitutional Law, some Four Hundred million pesos of public funds. Presumably, that money was placed under the stewardship of Hon. Osmeña, for Cebu City projects, but he would rather have it spent for the completion of the projects of Sir Eddiegul, in the province.

I imagined that Hon. Gullas must have been shocked by the offer. But, I also imagined that at the back of his mind, he realized it was such a huge fund that could complete his visionary projects. He was reined in by the desire to leave a lasting legacy to his constituency now that he is on his last term as congressman. In other words, the unexpected generous gesture of the former Cebu City mayor overwhelmed the first elected mayor of Talisay City, for its realistic impact. That was why they, after years of being belligerent to each other, have suddenly become text mates!

Sir Eddiegul, perhaps motivated by a genuine desire to fulfill whatever undertakings he promised to his constituents, overlooked what could have been a rare exercise of statesmanship. Oh, brinksmanship, how could I distinguish it from statesmanship! To say no to the offer, even in the most polite manner possible, could have been a most difficult decision to do because it could mean, for Sir Eddiegul, a delay if not non-realization of his flagship projects.

It would have however, been most proper for Sir Eddiegul to advice the neophyte congressman that the funds were held in trust for the benefit of the Cebu City south district. He is a veteran officer of the government. The theory was easily discernible the lawyer, in him, could not have missed. Indeed, Hon. Osmeña, was, at best, only the trustee of the funds with the residents of the Cebu City south district being the cestui que trust, of some kind. It was the duty of the trustee to administer or use the money not for the advantage of other congressional districts, but only for cestui que trust. In plain language, the money that both lawmakers were talking about in that fateful legislative forum was not their personal property. It could not be spent however each of them capriciously and whimsically wanted. But, of course, Sir Eddiegul knew, what the Hon. Osmeña was ignorant of.

It may not be farfetched that a taxpayer of Cebu City south district brings the matter up before the courts of law. His cause of action would probably be to assail the caprice of the lawmaker in wrongly administering a fund held in his trust. Then such a taxpayer can question the realignment of the money originally allocated from Cebu City to the first district of Cebu province because doubtless, that could be prejudicial to the interests of the residents of Cebu City south. As in all cases, there is a chance that he may fail.

But, if the taxpayer succeeds, the repercussions on the congressmen would be immense. Hon. Osmeña could feel a terrible legal sanction and worse suffer a political back lash. On his part, Sir Eddiegul would have lost an illustrious part of history of statesmanship.