NYC chair says he placed 'oversize' photo on billboard to deter scammers

National Youth Commission chairperson Ryan Enriquez on Thursday said he allowed his photo to be included in a billboard advertisement against COVID-19 to introduce himself as the NYC chair, as some people are pretending to be the head of the agency.

"Ang objective ko lang naman po is makatulong para sa information dissemination po tungkol sa COVID," Enriquez said at a Dobol B sa News TV interview.

"At least para malaman nila na ang chairman po ng National Youth Commission ay ito pong inyong lingkod," he added.

Enriquez became the NYC chair on July last year. However, he said the youth sector did not immediately recognize him as the head of the commission.

"Ito nga po may mga nagpapanggap. Sabi ko nga sa team ko noon, 'Sige hayaan mo nang malaki ang mukha, at least alam nila na ako po ang chairman ng NYC."

Enriquez said that a certain individual pretended to be the NYC chair in order to transact with overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

He said the person also wrote to the commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) from July to August this year.

Enriquez's billboard advertisement however drew flak on social media, as netizens noticed his seemingly oversized photo as compared with the reminders on COVID-19.

"Siguro po nasobrahan sa laki. Masyadong malaki po ang ating mukha," Enriquez said.

Following the criticism, the billboard with Enriquez' photo was removed.

An advisory was already posted on the NYC's Facebook account regarding unauthorized persons pretending to be from the agency.

Billboard owned by his family

Enriquez, who is into advertising and a supplier of printers and tarpaulins, said his family owned the vacant billboard.

"Wala pong pondo ng gobyerno 'yung ginastos po diyan. Ito po ay pag-mamay-ari po ng aming pamilya, and sayang naman kung hindi ko gagamitin kasi bakante lang siya," he said.

"Kung epal po tayo... Kasi matagal nang bakante yang billboard na 'yan, kung ang pakay ko po ay magpa-epal lang, sana po nu'ng March pa lang nilagyan ko na 'yan or nu'ng January pa lang kasi pandemic po, nabakante po, 'yung mga advertiser wala na pong nag-a-advertize sa billboard. So sana kung epal po ang aking pakay, sana po matagal ko nang ginawa," Enriquez said. —LBG, GMA News