Love him or hate him, Mayor Tommy Osmeña says it as he sees it.

Asked about the recent Ms. Cebu controversy stirred up by the Burdens, the mayor answered, "This is the most over-exposed, ridiculous issue I’ve ever seen in all my years as mayor."

Indeed. It was a classic example of someone making a mountain out of a molehill (not small hill, Mr. Columnist; please get your idioms right), exacerbated by media falling over themselves to try to get a scoop and a wimpy acting mayor who should have nipped it in the bud but didn’t.

Mayor Osmeña also said that the Cebu City Tourism Commission (CCTC) shouldn’t have apologized since it was the fault of only one person, Bruce Bollozas, who gave the wrong name to the emcee.

Right again. Yet, some quarters even ventured out to discredit the judges of the beauty pageant and question their integrity. One even went as far as hinting that Kris Tiffany Janson is a niece of then acting Mayor Mike Rama, which is why he delayed on acting on the matter. There was a delay because Vice-mayor Rama is a wimp, period.

As expected, Dr. Rowena Burden, who stirred up this brouhaha, took offense at the mayor’s statements, saying that the mayor’s administration can better deal with them professionally. I can only surmise that this means everybody was kowtowing to her complaints and Mayor Tommy just wasn’t.

So I hope this issue is finally put to rest. As I stated in a previous post, Kimberley Burden should have accepted Bollozos’ apology and remained in the Ms. Cebu court. She would have stood out. Instead, she acted like a spoiled brat by causing this pointless furor with the complicity of her mother.

Mayor Osmeña may have an acerbic tongue, but at times it’s much better than pussyfooting around.