A “coup” in the Manila city council has unseated a key ally of Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada and brought out in the open the growing dissatisfaction over the way he had supposedly favored some councilors over others.
Casimiro Sison was ousted as majority leader and replaced by Rolando Valeriano during a session on Aug. 10, after Councilor Manuel Zarcal made a motion to declare the position vacant and cited “lack of trust and confidence” in Sison and Estrada’s leadership.
Valeriano said 21 councilors formed the “new opposition” while 17 were considered loyal to Estrada.
“There used to be only 13 of us in the old minority. My forecast is, there’s more to come,” Valeriano told the Inquirer.
Prior to the coup, Valeriano said, members of the old majority expressed “discontent” with the way Sison and three other allied councilors ran the council. “They said only the needs of those close to Erap were being attended to.”
‘Disgruntled’
Zarcal said the “disgruntled members” of the old majority also felt that the council under Sison lost its independence after Estrada won a second term in 2016.
Estrada and Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, his 2016 running mate and head of the council, had a falling out immediately after the elections.
“The mayor favored only a few councilors,” Zarcal added.
City administrator Jojo Alcovendaz said “Mayor Estrada has no problems working with the new majority. He can work with any councilor.”
In separate interviews, Valeriano and Zarcal noted that the council under Sison allowed Estrada’s allies to occupy both the majority and minority floor leader positions.
“The council under the former majority was in disarray. There was a leadership squabble among them. They didn’t even give us (in the old minority) any chairmanships,” said Zarcal, who now heads the blue ribbon and oversight committees.
“We questioned that before but the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) sat on our complaint,” Zarcal added.
Sison has yet to respond to a request for an interview. Currently on recess, the council is resuming session on Sept. 10.