The Manila City Council approved the proposed P25 billion annual budget of the city for fiscal year 2023, but not after several city lawmakers almost exchanged blows.
During its regular session on Tuesday, 4th district councilor Joel Villanueva—a political rival of the incumbent Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna—raised a question on why the annual budget of the city was suddenly included in the session’s agenda without it having gone through budget and committee hearings.
Villanueva said the budget hearing should go through the legislative process and should not be rushed from first to final reading on the same day.
“There have been no hearings where department heads face the councilors to answer questions like what they do in Congress,” Villaneuva said in an interview over ABS-CBN news.
The shouting and pushing started after 6th District Councilor Salvador Philip Lacuna, brother of Mayor Lacuna, confronted Villanueva.
6th District Councilor Benny Fog Abante was reportedly seen pushing someone during the confrontation, but Villanueva defended the former saying that he was only trying to keep things from turning violent.
Another opposition councilor, Luis Uy reportedly exchanged words during the confrontation that ignited heated debates with other city councilors. However, cooler heads prevented a more serious scenario during the hearing.
According to Villanueva, the council’s minority bloc, which has 18 members against the administration’s 20, did not oppose the amount of the city’s annual budget but the manner of approving the proposed budget.
“We know that the city needs the budget, but they should have given us the opportunity to ask about the budget they were presenting for approval, but they didn’t answer our questions,” he said.
The incident mirrored what happened between Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday when they argued over a Senate resolution about the EMBO barangays in Taguig City.
