Manila City Administrator Bernardito Ang challenged the members of the Manila City Council (MCC) to feel free to question the budget anytime, following the alleged failed attempt of the MCC’s minority group to block the passage of Manila’s 2025 budget.
“Feel free to question the budget anywhere you please,” Ang said.
Ang lamented that the minority councilors, who tried to cause delays in the budget release, also tried to block the social amelioration program (SAP) payout which provides the monthly allowances for various sectors, free health services, benefits of the city government employees, among other expenses covered by the 2025 budget.
He also disclosed 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 each of the 2,000 families who lost their homes in the two fires in Tondo.
Read: https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/24/mayor-honey-minority-councilors-tried-to-delay-cash-assistance-for-tondo-fire-victims-1
According to Ang, the process of the Manila City Council in passing the budget is in accordance with the guidelines issued by Malacañang and the Department of Budget and Management.
The same process, he said, is used in the passage of the 2025 Philippine budget at the House of Representatives.
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, said he was surprised to know the real motive of the minority councilors in questioning the budget, which he said is clearly legitimate and legal.
He did not mention the motive of the minority group members involved.
He said the minority councilors tried to block its passage by insisting on the adaptation of a much longer process but they were overruled by the majority.
Ang said the minority group did not accept the result which led to heated argument inside the session hall.
In the middle of their argument, Councilor Fog Abante was shoved by Councilor Joey Uy, while the session was on a break and Vice Mayor and MCC Presiding Office John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto was in the restroom.
A video footage of the incident has made the rounds on social media.