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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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DOES he or does he not?
In his first test as acting mayor, Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III got a lot of comments on social media, mostly not very flattering. It was another one of those rainy days which happened to fall on a school day and his announcement declaring it a no-classes day due to the inclement weather came a little too late. It was after 7 a.m. and by that time most kids are already off or in school already.
The kinder comment said, “Let’s give him a chance, after all it’s his first day on the job” while others said, “It’s just first day jitters, he’ll soon warm up to it.”
In another incident, right after the usual small talks during the Monday flag ceremony, Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III was asked by the media about the whereabouts of Mayor Jed Mabilog and his reply was, “I haven’t slept the whole night and I have not had breakfast yet.” Not very “mayorable” to say the least.
These two incidents made a lot of natives of “I Am Iloilo City” wonder whether the Acting Mayor has any “political will” at all.
“Political will”, a much abused word like “fascist” and “dictator”, but do they really know what it means?
For the uninitiated:
“Political will refers to the fact that when passing any law there may be some political cost as the law may upset some people and please others. Political will refers to that collective amount of political benefits and costs that would result from the passage of any given law.”
So does Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III have the “political will” to make unpopular decisions for the good of the greater number of the natives of “I Am Iloilo City”?
Before we make any judgement on Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III let’s look at some more facts first and then see if he has indeed the “political will” or not.
To be fair to Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III, he spent almost a decade under the shadows of former World Mayor No. 5 Jed Mabilog until Jed could no longer handle the broadsides of President Rodrigo Duterte and decided to run away with his tail tucked between his legs.
With former World Mayor No. 5 Jed Mabilog nowhere to be found, Vice Mayor Jose Espinosa III woke up one morning as the Acting Mayor of “I Am Iloilo City.”
Most natives of “I Am Iloilo City” perceived Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III – or “Joe III” as he prefers to be called – as a boring and uninteresting person who spends most of his time at the tennis courts in La Paz plaza or at Madge’s Coffee at the La Paz Public Market.
Boring and uninteresting indeed; add the fact that he is married to Gina Sarabia of the iconic Sarabia clan known for strong-willed siblings running the family businesses.
Lately, something came up that sort of served as the acid test if Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III has political will or not.
Here are excerpts from the Oct. 7 issue of Panay News:
“Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III ordered the city government’s Task Force on Anti-Squatting and Illegal Structures (TF ASIS) to tear down the stalls a day after discovering that these were illegally tapping electricity from the city government’s power lines.
“‘We conducted an emergency meeting para tudloan leksyon ang mga tawo nga naga-defy sang what is correct and what is legal,’ said Espinosa yesterday.
“There would be an investigation to unmask a certain ‘Ricky’ to whom the ukay-ukay operators were paying for their electricity consumption at Jaro Plaza, he added.
“Late afternoon on Thursday, Espinosa conducted an ocular inspection at Jaro Plaza.
“‘Ma-case buildup kita. I have instructed the city administrator nga tan-awon kon…basta ma-comply naton ang mga requirements…bal-an mo kon may kaso na there must be affidavits,’” said Espinosa.
“Early this week, Councilor Joshua Alim warned against the closure of Jaro and Mandurriao district plazas for income-generating activities.
“‘Ang mga plaza himuon naman nila bulogasan. Plazas are beyond the commerce of man,’ stressed Alim, citing the Local Government Code which prohibits the closure of public plazas except for some occasions but that the closure must not be more than three days.”
Last Monday during the regular flag ceremony at city hall, Acting Mayor Jose Espinosa III announced that he will order that all ukay-ukay stall in other plazas in “I Am Iloilo City” will be demolished.
So there, political will indeed! (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
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