On his 34th birthday Tuesday, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. was greeted by actress and television host Kris Aquino who joined him and his family, father Vice President Jejomar Binay, and government employees in a thanksgiving Mass at city hall.
Aquino, who came with stylist Liz Uy, sat beside the mayor but immediately left after the Mass.
The younger Binay marked his birthday with a series of activities for the benefit of city residents, including the launching of the Makati Benefits Card and the opening of the third route for electric jeepneys in the city’s old Poblacion and Guadalupe Viejo districts.
The “Makati B Card” is a unified benefits card that integrates the Makati Health Plus Card, BLU Card and Heart Card into a single card.
Starting on Wednesday until July 21, the city government will issue the first 1,000 B Cards to senior citizens in various barangays as part of the program’s pilot implementation. Regular employees of the city government have also started to receive their B Cards.
Binay also drove an e-jeepney to launch the four-kilometer Heritage Loop Route. Four units of e-jeepneys will ply the route and offer free rides to the public.
The e-jeepneys will start at the Estrella Street-Edsa terminal and traverse the streets of Barangays Poblacion and Guadalupe Viejo, the old communities of Makati that date back to the Spanish era.
Another highlight of the day was the inauguration of the new 10-story Makati City Hall building on F. Zobel Street which will house key offices of the city government occupying the old city hall building.
Binay also inaugurated the new 12-story Health and Physical Sciences Building at the University of Makati and then turned over to the Makati Police Department 47 motorcycles.