Young calls Rama ‘incorrigible liar’ over face on envelope issue

CEBU City Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young yesterday called Mayor Michael Rama an “incorrigible liar” for having his face imprinted in the envelopes containing the cash gifts of the senior citizens.

Young said this was a sign that the mayor couldn’t be trusted.

When asked what actions he would take against Rama, Young said he wouldn’t do anything yet.

Rama leads the party, TEAM Rama, which will run against the Rep. Tomas Osmeña-led Bando Osmena Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) party which Young belonged to.

He said that the mayor promised last year that he wouldn’t put his name on the envelope.

honesty

Young said he learned about the value of honesty from his parents.

“I remember my mom told me to never lie because if you lie, you will have to lie a second time to cover the first lie. To cover the second lie, you will have to lie the third time. If you have three lies you forget about your lies,” said Young.

Young said “how can you trust a person if you always lie?”

“Never lie. No matter how humiliating it is to make, ako na lang angkonon,” he said.

Young said he was willing to bet that Rama would wash his hands off on this as what he had done before.

votes

According to the Office of the Senior Citizens’ Affairs Office, there are 70,000 senior citizens in the city. Of that number, 54,848 are qualified to receive the P7,000 cash assistance from the city.

When sought for comment about Young’s accusations, Rama said “it’s already in the statement.”

He, however, didn’t specify what statement he was referring to.

But last year, Rama decided to do away with the envelopes bearing his face during the distributions of the cash gifts of the senior citizens after Rep. Osmeña threatened to file a complaint at the Ombudsman’s Office for illegal promotion.

Osmeña was referring then to President Aquino’s 2010 policy, prohibiting names of public officials from appearing in billboards and signboards.

young letter

Last year, Young wrote a letter to Rama asking him not to use the seal of the city for his personal intentions.

He reiterated the directive of the President Benigno Aquino through DILG not to put names and pictures on projects.

Whether the intention is politicking or not,  most of the senior citizens interviewed by  Cebu Daily News said it doesn’t matter so long as many were able to benefit from the taxpayers’ money allotted by the city for the senior citizens’  budget.  /Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao