Taguig councilor, administrator in tussle over alleged suspension of services

MANILA, Philippines – A Taguig City councilor yesterday slammed the Cayetano administration for allegedly suspending the city’s free social services.

In a statement, Councilor Aurelio Bartolome, chairman of the city’s Committee on Finance and Appropriations, said Taguig has “more than enough funds” to sustain the previous administration’s project.

Among the services allegedly interupted include: Services for the poor at the Serenity Park; Free lunches for students of the Taguig City University; Forty-percent discount off for medical services and food for patients at the Taguig City Hospital, and the P500 cash birthday gifts for senior citizens.

Based on his computation, Bartolome said the city coffers still has P600 million. This figure is on top of the P54 million share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) given to them last July. “And if the new administration reached its collection target for the same month, collections from business and real property taxes would add P100 million more to the city’s coffers, raising the budget to more than P700 million,” the councilor said.

Bartolome is an ally of the Tiñga political family, whose patriarch former Supreme Court associate Justice Dante Tiñga was beaten by Mayor Laarni Cayetano last May in a hotly contested election. Cayetano was the only one among her ticket to win in the May 10 polls. For his part, Joel Montales, Cayetano’s city administrator, turned the tables to the Tiñga ally. 

In a phone interview, Montales told The STAR that the contracts for these services were signed during the Tiñga administration, making the other camp liable to whatever happened to the contracts. Montales further alleged that none of the contracts have been forwarded to them despite their repeated request so that they could review the documents.

“Not a single contract was turned over to us. That’s why they should be the one asking themselves what happened to their suppliers because these people just vanished into thin air after Mayor Lani assumed office,” Montales said.

The city administrator further said that Cayetano’s camp did not suspend the delivery of these services but rather continued those that have been derailed, including the burial services.