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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Alex Lopez says rehabilitation of Manila Zoo a 'wrong priority', P1.7B too much

Alex Lopez says rehabilitation of Manila Zoo a 'wrong priority', P1.7B too much

Published Mar 20, 2022 12:22 pm

Mayoral candidate Atty. Alex Lopez maintained that the rehabilitation of the Manila Zoo is a wrong priority.

Atty. Alex Lopez (MANNY LLANES/ MANILA BULLETIN)

“Ang zoo naman po (the zoo), obviously, P1.7 billion at the time of Covid, I think it is very clear that it is a wrong priority,” he said during Manila Bulletin’s Hot Seat forum.

Lopez said the budget used for the rehabilitation was almost equal to a budget for three small provinces.

“That’s a budget for three small provinces para tirahan ng hayop po (for animal shelter). There is so much need, so much housing to be built, pagkain sa hapag kainan, walang trabaho... Kailangan po natin ang gamot - simple medicines (food on the table, lack of jobs... the need for medicines),” he pointed out.

While he commended the current administration in creating more job opportunities for Manileños, he maintained that the rehabilitation project was still not timely.

“‘Yung zoo po hindi napapanahon ngayon (the zoo is not timely) and P.1.7 billion is a huge amount of money. Ang sinasabi ko nga siguro (what I am saying is maybe) you can visit the zoo and see whether that’s a P1.7 billion project. Tao na po ang humusga, kayo na ang pumunta. (It's up to the people to judge, it's up to you to go),” he stressed,

“Hindi po napapanahon, may Covid po tayo, may pandemya. (It's not timely, we have Covid, there is a pandemic),” he said.

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