Mayor Treñas tells Locsin: Iloilo City is much better than what you think

MANILA, Philippines — “Iloilo City is much better than what you think because here, we all work together.”

This was the response of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., saying that he had never blamed his constituents for any shortcomings in the city’s efforts to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

Treñas made the remark after Locsin said in a now-deleted tweet: “How come Treñas can blame his constituents of carelessness, of being pasaway — that ugly word — and get away with it? Because of opposition hypocrisy.”

In an earlier television interview, Treñas said that some of his constituents had become careless amid the pandemic, the reason for Iloilo City being placed under a modified enhanced community quarantine.

But in a Facebook post Sunday, Treñas clarified that he was not blaming his constituents.

“Teddy Boy Locsin, we take care of our constituents the best way we can. I have not blamed my constituents since we continue to look for ways and means to flatten the curve,” the mayor said.

“I know you do not know how to work in the LGU since you have never run a city. Iloilo City is much better than what you think because here, we all work together,” he added.

Further, Treñas said that governance was “always a shared responsibility both of the governors and the governed.”

“It is unfortunate that in the midst of a pandemic, you still claim political sides,” Treñas told Locsin.

“Here in Iloilo City, we always let our prevailing virtue of love work as one people, and we do things together, that is why we are called the City of Love,” he added.

In another Facebook post, Treñas said that, instead of helping in the fight amid the pandemic, “we have a Secretary of Foreign Affairs who dips his finger on anything he thinks he is bright enough to make a nasty comment.”

“Life is what we experience in the here and now, not your cellphone for Twitter or Facebook. We deal with real lives sir — not cellphones or laptops,” Treñas said.

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