Ben Madilynn
At no other time in recent history had two mayors in Metro Cebu been capped in the knee before the fight, not even sure if they could go up the ring. Figuratively of course. Shortly after Cebu City mayor Mike Rama filed his COC for reelection in May 2025, the Ombudsman dismissed him from service. And before he could file a motion for reconsideration of the penalty, DILG enforced the order, pronto. Expecting another suspension, he got worse: loss of the mayor’s seat at City Hall.
The phrase ‘not final but executory’ suddenly becomes a reducer of one’s earned-by-election term or its devastating terminator.
Same fate for Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes. Pow! Wham! And both were kicked off the stage of power.
And maybe Rama and Cortes would be eliminated from the elections itself, once Comelec makes good its threat to “enforce immediately” the Ombudsman orders of dismissal.
Unless — the daunting “unless” — the Supreme Court, where both ex-mayors have raised separate petitions, will issue a TRO against Comelec and stop it from cancelling their COCs.
If it were solely an operation of bureaucracy’s disciplinary system, believers in the fair contest would be relieved. But indications point to the hand of political power at work.
The Supreme Court, “the last resort,” could ruin any best-laid plan, if the high court would be quicker than the planners and executors.
