THE detractors of the sitting officials at the Manila city government must be so pissed right now.
The inevitable finally took place, when Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna met with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. in Malacanan Palace on Thursday morning.
It was a courtesy visit that ended up in pleasantries and with President Marcos himself declaring that he now considers himself a constituent of Manila. Awww…
Mayor Honey was accompanied by Vice Mayor Yul Servo, Congressmen Joel Chua (Third District), Rolan Valeriano (Second District), Edward Maceda (Fourth District), Ernix Dionisio (First District) and Bienvenido Abante (Sixth district), and the 37 councilors of the city council.
The mayor and other elected officials are profusely thankful to the President for having accepted them in the Palace and even chit-chatting with them.
It is a known fact that they all belong to the local party Asenso Manileno which, of course, supported the presidential bid of then Mayor Isko Moreno for the presidency.
Believing that politics need not go beyond election day, the good mayor and other officials holding elective posts in the city, have extended a hand of friendship, also in response to the President’s continued call for unity.
It took a while before this materialized because, I was told by a highly-reliable source, someone close to the President had been blocking the group of Mayor Honey from the start from getting an appointment for their courtesy visit.
When the meeting finally took place, a press release was issued by the Office of the Press Secretary. The story ran a total of 11 paragraphs but notably, there was no mention of Mayor Honey whatsoever. The release only referred to ‘Manila local officials.’
Any reporter in his right mind would know that putting the names, at least of the mayor and the vice mayor, is important for the story to stand. This is why even if the press release did not mention the name of Mayor Honey, those who reported the story mentioned her name and even included some other local officials.
Putting it the other way around, can you imagine the writers of the mayor issuing a press release saying Mayor Honey met with the President but without mentioning the President’s name?
Leaving out the mayor’s name was intentional and reeked of politicking, which runs counter to the purpose of why the President met with the mayor and all the other elected officials of Manila, which is to create a bridge of cooperation between the national and the local government, especially of Manila being the host city of Malacanan. This makes it obvious that the President did not have a hand in the way that the press release was written and that his underlings are doing things that are not in sync with his administration’s agenda and call for unity.
Anyway, Mayor Honey was unfazed and only sees how President Marcos warmly accepted them.
If President Marcos set aside politics, those working for him should be doing the same thing, instead of doing things that would make the President appear insincere, which, I’m certain he isn’t.
The President notes the importance of constant support and working relationship between the national and Manila local government and also branded himself as a Manila constituent.
Mayor Honey, for her part, assured President Marcos of the city government’s full support in all of his praiseworthy undertakings, plans, and programs that would redound to the benefit of all Filipinos.
The lady mayor also took the opportunity to ask for the President’s guidance and help so that the city could deliver more and better basic services to its constituents numbering about two million to date.
She also expressed hope that with the said meeting, the President may find time to attend some of the activities and events of Manila.
All of Manilans and those present in the said meeting now have high hopes that indeed, unity, as called upon by President Marcos himself, will reign in the city of Manila.
Those who have been wishing otherwise, better luck next time…
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