Raising concerns against the national government is not the same as going against it, Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco said Tuesday.
According to Tiangco, there is nothing wrong with local government units raising their concerns, regardless if it is against the national government which "is not perfect."
Tiangco made the pronouncement after he was asked about his thoughts on local government units being deprived of assistance by the national government should they criticize it.
"The national government has been there, though aminin natin, hindi naman perpekto di ba. Wala nam​a​ng perpekto​ (let's admit it's not perfect. There's nothing perfect)," he said in a TeleRadyo interview.
"​Hin​di ​naman siguro pagbanat yung pag-raise ng concerns​ (Raising concerns is not the same as attacking the national government)," he added.​
Tiangco said voicing out their concerns is better than keeping mum at all in order to inform the national government where it falls short.
"So I think responsibilidad din naman po namin na ipaalam kung ano yung problema on the ground​. ​Otherwise, ​kapag​ malaman nila at hindi galing sa amin, mas mahirap yung sitwasyon namin​. , 'eh may problema palang ganyan​,​ kulang kayo sa bakuna​,​ di kayo nagsasalita​ (I think it's our responsibility to inform them about the problem on the ground. Otherwise, if they find out about it somewhere else, we will end up in a more difficult situation. They might ask us, 'you have problems but you're not speaking?),'" he said.​
​That was what Tiangco has been doing since the start of the pandemic response, particularly regarding the local government's issues on the lack of vaccine supply and not enough funds to cover all​ residents' financial assistance.
On Tuesday night, President Duterte said he would not authorize certain local government units to distribute the latest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) financial assistance because the mayors "do not know anything."