MANILA – Not one of the 17 councilors of Makati City showed up at Mayor Romulo ‘Kid’ Peña’s first flag-raising ceremony Monday, July 13, at the Makati City Hall.
Peña is now the acting mayor of Makati after Mayor Jejomar Erwin ‘JunJun’ Binay Jr. was preventively suspended by the Ombudsman.
In a report from Rappler, Councilor Marie Alethea Casal Uy said that councilors “don’t regularly attend” the flag ceremony at the city hall even when Binay was still the mayor.
Uy clarified that the city council will continue to support programs “for the good of the people.” However, “if it’s just for PR, [they] don’t think that’s right anymore.”
Uy added that said reforms and programs must follow the city’s law and budget because the council wants to make sure that they can follow through.
Makati’s new acting vice mayor Leonardo Magpantay was also absent during the flag-raising ceremony, but downplayed his absence, saying he was preparing for his oathtaking.
Magpantay was sworn in by Judge Ronaldo Moreno of the Makati Regional Trial Court on Monday.
He explained that the councilors’ absence should not be a big deal since they are an “independent body” and will continue to operate independently whoever sits as the city mayor.
“The council is an independent body. We create and approve resolutions and ordinances and appropriate funds. We are different,” he said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, emphasizing their separation from the mayor’s office.
Magpantay and Binay are both members of the United Nationalist Alliance. While Peña is part of the Liberal Party, the current administration’s coalition.