Fr. Yap’s naivety

I FEEL for Fr. Roberto Yap’s concern over the vice mayor’s inaction on the issue of waste management in the city. Coming from the academe, no less than Xavier University, there is no doubt that Yap’s intentions are free from any political interest. Yap simply wants to solve the problem that exposes hazard to the lives of Cagay-anons.

Come to think of it, he is not even a local and he runs the biggest university in Mindanao with all its shares of problems too like the drastic drop of enrollment, yet still he took the time to commit himself to solve one of the more serious problems in the city only to be met with coldness and indifference by the very people who were tasked by the Cagay-anons to solve it.

Why the brush-off? It would take a politician to understand the picture. And since the obstacle is political in nature, it would need a political intervention, too –– something that Yap should consider if he wants the ball to roll fast especially that he does not have the luxury of time.

To look at it politically, the vice mayor’s hands are tied. Whether Yap likes it or not, he is an extension of the mayor as he chairs the Solid Waste Management Board. His performance will ultimately impact that of the mayor and his success would be credited to, of course, to the mayor. Now why would the highest official of the opposition act on something that will advance the opponent’s public value and consequently his chance of winning the 2016 election? That would mean betraying not only his allies but their dreams of the city as well if they ever have one. The vice mayor is a politician and has been a politician since he barely graduated high school. It would be next to impossible to ask him to consider things beyond politics.

This brings me back to my point: if Yap is dead serious in his commitment to solve the problem of waste in the city within his term as chair, then he has to act, speak, and dress like a politician. I know it with certainty that it would be fruitless and therefore useless to insist his scholarly procedure in a local government, much more in CDO.

If there are two things I learned in CDO politics, it’s that everything can be talked about and be sure you discuss things with the right person. In a card game, the ace has the last say, so with politics. If you convince the head of your worthwhile cause, not only will things magically be easy for you, things will get done. And believe me, they will get done.

My point is, Yap has to accept the fact that there are two factions in the political world where he got himself into. And he needs not just one but the support of the two factions if he wants to carry out his cause for the Cagay-anons.

Funny because, he actually has access to both factions at the tip of his fingertips even without having to get out from his office. He is probably just too naïve to think that his pure intentions are enough to rally his cause.