NAIS ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos na mapalakas ang giyera laban sa kahirapan kaya nagpasya itong paigtingin ang ugnayan sa pamahalaang lungsod ng Maynila.
Ito ang naging pahayag ni Pangulong Marcos na isa na rin constituent ng Maynila nang mag-courtesy call kahapon si Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna sa Malakanyang.
Kasama ni Lacuna sina Vice Mayor Yul Servo-Nieto at anim na Congressmen na kumakatawan sa anim na distrito ng Maynila, pati na ang 37 miyembro ng Manila City Council, Liga ng mga Barangay President of Manila at Ex-officio Councilor Leilani Marie Lacuna at SK Federation President Daniel Dave Tan.
“Mr. President, we are here in full force to express our full support to your administration specially to all your laudable plans and programs that will benefit every Filipino. And since Manila has been and is still your second home, we humbly wish that you will consider our beloved city in your priority list,” ani Lacuna.
Kaya’t naman tinukoy ni PBBM ang kahalagahan ng pakikipag-ugnayan pamahalaan sa local government units (LGUs) sa pakikipaglaban sa kahirapan dulot na rin ng patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin.
“With your guidance and assistance, Mr. President, we believe that we can deliver better services to our fellow Manileños. We hope to have you in our future events and activities here in the capital city of our country. Again, thank you very much for giving us your time to meet us here in Malacanang,” dagdag pa ng alkalde.
Inihayag pa ni Lacuna, “For our more than 2 million population, the city government is doing its best to offer our constituents much -needed assistance through our Social Amelioration Program that has been providing financial aid in form of monthly allowances to all our senior citizens, solo parents as well as all PWDs (persons with disability) in Manila. We continue to give monthly allowances to the Grade 12 Senior High School students in all public schools and to all our college students enrolled at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and at the Universidad de Manila.
We are also operating six LGU hospitals, one in every district, and we have 44 health centers serving as frontliners in the implementation of our universal health care. And there are still a lot of concerns that our government must pay attention to.”
Nagpasalamat din ang alkalde nang sabihin ni PBBM na dapat na magtulungan ang national government at LGUs dahil itinuturing nito na isa na siya sa constituent o bumubuo sa Maynila.
Tinukoy din nito ang tinuran ni PBBM na kung walang tulong ng LGUs ay mahihirapan ang bansa na umusad dahil batid nito ang mga pangangailangan ng mamamayan dahil ito mismo ang nakalublob sa masa. VERLIN RUIZ