San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora called out Sen. Jinggoy Estrada over his criticisms against him and the city government, particularly his remarks about the city council being composed of basketball players on Thursday, Nov. 20.
Estrada made the remarks during the senate's deliberations on the proposed funding of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), stating that some of the basketball players
in the city council are not even from San Juan.
"May masama ba sa basketball player? Ano bang natutunan ko sa basketball? Disiplina sa katawan, sa isip, maging goal-oriented, you will learn perseverance, resiliency, determination, learn to play as a team. Opo, meron akong mga basketball player sa konseho pero sila po ay mga disiplinado. Alam nila ang kanilang mga tungkulin at naglilingkod sila nang maayos sa San Juan (Is there something wrong with being a basketball player? I learned discipline in mind and body, to become goal-oriented, I learned about perseverance, resiliency, determination, and to play as a team. Yes, I do have basketball players in my council, but all of them have discipline. They know that their job and responsibility is to serve the people of San Juan)," Zamora said.
"Nagtataka nga ako bakit ganon ang pagtingin niya sa mga basketball player, e siya naman e nag-aalaga rin ng mga basketball player. Meron siyang San Juan Knights (I am quite baffled as to why he thinks that way about basketball players when even he is managing basketball players. He has the San Juan Knights)," he added.
Some basketball players in the San Juan city council include James Yap, Don Allado, Paul Artadi, and Ervic Vijandre.