FOLLOWING another failed attempt by members of the Manila City Council (MCC) belonging to the minority to block, this time, the passage of the city of Manila‘s 2025 budget itself, City Administrator Bernardito Ang advised the said councilors to “feel free to question the budget anywhere you please.”
Ang lamented that the minority councilors, in trying hard to block the city budget, are also in effect blocking the delivery of basic services that include the social amelioration program which provides the monthly allowances for senior citizens, solo parents, persons and minors with disability and university students; the free health services being given to all residents and the benefits of the city government employes, among other expenses covered by the 2025 budget.
He noted that just recently, the same group of councilors also tried, although unsuccessfully, to block the passage of the resolution needed to provide the P10,000 financial assistance to the some 2,000 families who lost their homes in two fires in Tondo.
According to Ang, the process employed by the Manila City Council in passing the said budget is a hundred percent aboveboard and pursuant to guidelines issued no less by Malacanang and the Department of Budget and Management as in fact, the same process will be used in the passage of the 2025 Philippine budget at the House of Representatives pursuant to a directive from President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr.
The city administrator also stressed that the passage of the city’s 2025 budget was perfectly aboveboard.
Ang, who was recently awarded for having served as Manila City Councilor the longest, expressed doubt as to the real motive of the minority councilors in questioning what is clearly legitimate and legal.
The MCC under Vice Mayor Yul Servo in his concurrent capacity as Presiding Officer, was called to session during which the Committee on Appropriations headed by Councilor Numero ‘Uno’ Lim (2nd district) moved for the passage of the city budget on first, second and third reading.
The minority councilors tried to block its passage by insisting on the employment of a much longer process but were overruled by the majority.
This failure was apparently not acceptable to minority councilors as a ruckus followed the budget’s passage while the session was on recess and Servo was in the restroom. In the midst of the heated exchange, Councilor Fog Abante was shoved by Councilor Joey Uy. A video footage of the incident has made the rounds on social media.
