Tomas: Rama bluffing on elderly assistance increases

REP. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said the promised increase on senior’s citizen assistance by Mayor Michael Rama is a bluff.

Osmeña who will run against Rama in the mayoralty race in 2013 admitted that if ever he will retake City Hall in 2013, he may not be able to fulfill the incumbent mayor’s promise.

Rama in his State of the City Address (SOCA) announced that senior citizens can get a total of P7,000 cash incentives this year to be raised to P10,000 in 2013 and P12,000 in 2014 or P1,000 every month if ever he will be reelected as mayor.

Osmeña said Rama’s promise to increase the P7,000 cash assistance to P10,000 next year is hard to fulfill as the source of such fund is still uncertain.

“Why are you going to play that cruel game when you don’t even know your numbers,” he said.

Osmeña said the practice of giving cash assistance to senior citizens started when he was mayor and Rama is just “imitating” it.

“Where’s the money? Before we start deciding to give what…We always find out how much money do we have in our pocket. That’s very irresponsible “, Osmeña said.

Meanwhile, Osmeña said that his Bando Osmeña – Pundok Kalambuan (BOPK) is 90 percent sure to field city councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa for the south district congressional seat next year.

He said Abellanosa appeared now to be a strong candidate based on their survey and that he can beat former congressman Amtonio Cuenco whom he described as being a weak candidate now.