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Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia wore skinny jeans, a body-hugging top and put on a cowboy hat and cape when she faced news reporters last week. Online reports said she taunted Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña during the press con and described him as no longer a spring chicken. She visualized hizzoner in the room by holding an ornamental figure of a manok, which she taunted with, “Come on chicken, let’s play chicken... Are you chicken?”
The governor’s way of expressing herself on the website of the provincial government to invest in the South Reclamation Project may be absurd, but let’s examine the issues she put across during the press con.
By donning the costume of the masked hero of justice, Garcia, in effect, composed the “Tandang Zorra” taunt hurled by her political enemy against her. The Zorro costume on a woman calls for tight fitting jeans and top, and if worn with a pair of high boots, the getup can be very sexy on a shapely woman. It’s hard to tell from online photos how Gwen fared in the style department during the press con, although I think she does look comely in a pair of denim jeans, a feat that is uncommon for women our age. She emphasized her small waistline during the gathering, as if saying, so what’s wrong with being a Tandang Zorra if one can get away with skinny jeans and figure-hugging blouse?
The ornamental manok, meanwhile, is chicken for the press that heard the governor talking to the figurine. Ever since Capitol made public its intention to come up with its own Swiss challenge on the offer made by Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) in the South Reclamation Project, the governor believes that city officials led by Tommy have become panicky. Reports didn’t mention the governor’s explanation over why the city would chicken out on a Capitol offer. On its face, it would help regulate the commerce between the city government and prospective SRP clients – a good reason to make a media event out of guv’s ocular visit to the SRP area.
On the other hand, there is also a game called Chicken, which Wikipedia says is also known as the Hawk-Dove game. It is a “model of conflict for two players in game theory” a contest where each player does not to yield to the other. The outcome where neither player yields is the worst possible one for both protagonists, like in a game in which two drivers lunge towards each other on a collision course. One must swerve or both may die in the crash, but if one driver veers away and the other stays the course, the one who blinked is called “chicken,” meaning a coward.
Gov. Garcia’s tack reminds me of what a songwriter once said: If you can get humor and seriousness at the same time, you’ve created something, because if you get pompous, you lose everything.
Capitol’s challenge to the Filinvest’s offer – i.e. to buy 10 hectares of the SRP lot, worth P2 billion, and a simultaneous tender to develop 40 hectares more of the SRP property – is creating “bulabog” or disturbance in the otherwise calm surroundings. Capitol asserts the offer covering the sale of 10 hectares should be separate from the Joint Venture Ordinance to make way for a better deal, one coming from the provincial government. Capitol wants to see, for its own reference, the developer’s tender in the JV. However, given the animosity between Gwen and Tommy, daghan kilay ang mialsa over Capitol’s sudden keenness over the SRP.
The scenario of Capitol upholding the supposed advantages and benefits to the city against the tender of FLI can be expected, if it’s not already looming in the horizon. In other words, the FLI tender would come under attack with the firm getting caught in the political crossfire. The last time I looked, a scenario like this could make a proponent review its position, either by waiting for the proper time, or scratching the project altogether.
Given the importance of the FLI investment, it would not be surprising to hear speculations that the situation could trigger City Hall to find an agreeable solution to the Ciudad project. To recall, Capitol was poised to build a P1.2-billion mix-use complex in the Banilad area but the project suffered a hitch after the City Council passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on development projects. Ciudad may be seen as the stalking horse in the game of chicken.
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I’m sad to hear about the death of my friend and Cebu Daily News coworker, Job Tabada. I have known Job for the longest time. We worked together in the early ‘80s at RPN, where he was assigned in the TV news department, while I slugged it out in the radio station. He was an affable guy and pleasant to work with.
At the CDN anniversary party early this year, he looked frail but that didn’t stop him from enjoying the company of friends and fellow workers. True to form, he didn’t consider his heart condition when he traveled to Taiwan a couple of weeks ago for an observation tour. That out-of-town trip must have taken a toll on his body, and it seems to me it was Job’s parting shot to sum up his attitude to work in particular and life in general: to do what one’s got to do.
Godspeed, my friend.
