To prove province is rich: Tommy dares Gwen to follow his program

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is daring Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to prove that the province indeed has so much money by following his example.

The mayor is urging the governor to provide P2,000 to each senior citizen in the province each year and offer families P5,000 in burial assistance.

The senior citizens in Cebu City get a cash assistance of P1,000 per year and another P1,000 during their birthday.

“She keeps on bragging that Oh, they’re so rich. I just pose a challenge to the governor that if you’re so rich why don’t you give your senior citizens P2,000 each. It’s all laway. Give them P2,000 and we’ll see,” said Osmeña.

Capitol consultant on information Rory Jon Sepulveda said “Tommy should address his challenge to the town mayors, not to the governor. The province has other concerns such as infrastructure, power, water, investments and job opportunities, heritage, tourism and others.

“We are making sure that the people learn to fish and where to fish. He is into giving fish,” Sepulveda said reacting to the mayor’s challenge to the governor.

Osmeña said the city is also providing P5,000 burial assistance to the family of any city residents who dies, but the provincial government is not giving even a single centavo of burial assistance to its constituents.

He criticized the governor for announcing that the provincial government has billions of pesos worth of assets, but she failed to uplift the condition of the thousands of poor residents in the province.

In another verbal attack, he also suggested that it would be better if the governor will convert the ground floor of the controversial Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to a hospital and its second floor to a funeral parlor.

“CICC will make more money if you convert it a funeral parlor. You can put a hospital downstairs and a funeral parlor upstairs,” Osmeña said.

Garcia announced during her State of the Province Address that Cebu had an income of P47 million from the CICC since it was constructed.

The mayor had already asked the Ombudsman to investigate the reports that scrap iron were used in the construction of the CICC, which reportedly costs P900 million. — Rene U. Borromeo with reports from Ely Bolonos/NLQ   (THE FREEMAN)