Osmeña asked: Are you honest?

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera is questioning the credentials of Mayor Tomas Osmeña after the latter branded him as liar for denying reports of alleged conflict between Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and former mayor Michael Rama.

Garganera, a member of the opposition Barug Team Rama, asked the mayor if he was honest about his academic records. “Are you honest?” he asked.

“That was 1988 when he ran the election, he impressed us that he is a college graduate. I don’t know if he’s a college graduate or not, but one thing is for sure, wala siyay napakita nga diploma or anything from the university, which he claimed he was a graduate,” Garganera added.

Garganera said he doesn’t have a problem if Osmeña was a college dropout as long as he admits it.

“Tommy didn’t acknowledge that he was college dropout, he gives us the impression that he graduated from college. To me, that’s dishonesty,” he said.

Osmeña said he is a college graduate at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro City.

“I’m a college graduate…I’ve proved that already so many times,” he told reporters.

The mayor’s wife, Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, said her husband graduated Agricultural Economics in 1972.

She said it was in 1962 that her husband temporarily stopped schooling to help his late father Sergio Osmeña campaign for the presidency.

“He did graduate in 1972, why don’t they check,” Margot said.

Margot said she even remembered going her husband to receive an outstanding alumni award, where Senator Richard Gordon was the guest speaker.

Xavier University registrar Verna Lago, in an interview with The FREEMAN over the phone, did not confirm nor deny that Osmeña is an alumnus.

Lago said they need a written authorization from the mayor before they could give out any information relative to his academic records due to data privacy.

She, however, confirmed that Agricultural Economics was one of the courses offered by the university in 1972.

Earlier, Osmeña called Garganera as liar after the latter belied reports that there is an ongoing conflict among the members of the opposition.

The mayor posted on his Facebook an alleged shouting match between Labella and Rama during a meeting.

Rama was allegedly mad after Labella declared that he is open to run for mayor in the next elections. (FREEMAN)