Councilor lures netizens to do ‘Tomparos’ meme
After President Rodrigo Duterte has publicly slammed Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, opposition councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia has urged netizens to come up with their own meme in exchange of movie tickets.
Last Friday, Garcia posted on his Facebook account asking the netizens to caption a photo of Osmeña and Duterte with a hash tag of “Tomparos.”
“You can post captions in the comments section or just grab this pic, edit it, and make your own image caption. The funniest caption will be shared in my page and will get two free movie tickets!” read a portion of the post.
As of 4:21 p.m. yesterday, it earned 1,600 various reactions from the public and has been shared 131 times already.
Garcia told The FREEMAN that he came up with such idea because he wants to hear the thoughts of the public and get a ‘lighter’ side of politics.
“It’s always good to see the different points of view that netizens have toward political developments and not just my own. It is also a welcome break for everyone to see the lighter side of politics once in a while,” Garcia added.
He said he is not expecting to be bashed by netizens for his move.
“I want my page to be a forum where not only I share my opinions on certain issues but ALSO for my followers to express themselves. Memes are a fun way to keep political banter going. Every once in a while, we need to take a break from the seriousness of politics and explore its lighter side. Why will I be bashed when it’s the netizens words who will fill in the blanks and not mine?”
Last August 30, Duterte blasts the mayor for supposedly playing untouchable and telling the national government to “leave Cebu alone.”
The video footage of the president’s speech became trending when he said he will slap the mayor if they meet.
“P*tang ina tamparoson gyud taka, awa. Kana imong tae imong gidaladala sa imong plastic… Kibaw ka unsa’y sakit gyud nimo Tom, proud ba, hambogero. Kana ganing taw nga dili masayop, tanaw niya dili siya masayop,” the president said.
Since the urostomy bag of the mayor went viral after Duterte made mention of it, the mayor posted on his Facebook account about his illness the day after.
Urostomy bag is a device which is used to collect urine after bladder surgery.
“I have never hidden the fact that I had to fight urinary bladder cancer 10 years ago. Those of you old enough to remember can recall that the first thing I did when I found out I had cancer in 2008 was to hold a press con to tell the Cebuanos,” portion of Osmeña’s post read.
“Because of the cancer, the doctors had to remove my bladder and replace it with an external pouch that collects my urine through a stoma and routs it to another bag that is strapped to my leg. Because of sweat the bag’s adhesive sometimes fails causing leaks which is why some of you may notice I change shirts during the day,” it added.
The FREEMAN tried to get Osmeña’s side on Garcia post, but the mayor was not available as of press time.
Garcia doesn’t have an idea yet how long he will let the netizens submit their own entries of memes but he said he will pick weekly winners.
Since he posted it, some have already posted their own memes shaming Osmeña’s illness.
In his post, various comments have lashed out Garcia because they think the matter is not something to make fun with.
“This is a work of an Honorable City Councilor ..... This is his way to unite his fellow government officials for a better Cebu and the Philippines...You can do MUCH better than this, Sir!” thoughts from a certain Dax Monteclar.