Makati row delays pay for councilors, staff

The two-week-old standoff at Makati City Hall is now being felt by some employees as a pinch in their pockets.

At least 102 local government personnel, including 17 councilors, did not get their salaries as scheduled on Wednesday due to the leadership dispute between embattled Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and Vice Mayor Romulo Peña.

READ: Binay, Peña hold separate flag-raising ceremonies in Makati

Acting City Administrator Vissia Aldon said the release of the salaries and allowances of the councilors and their 83 staff members (both regular and co-terminous) was “held in abeyance” because Peña, who had taken his oath as acting mayor, refused to sign their checks. The payment covered the period March 16 to 31.

“His staff refused to receive the payroll (for signing) and returned the checks to the Office of the Treasurer,” Aldon told reporters, noting that the councilors were expecting Peña to sign “in his capacity as vice mayor,” the approving official for payrolls and checks involving the city council.

But about 8,000 other employees received their salaries on Wednesday since Binay had signed their vouchers for this month and next month, Aldon said.

Councilor Marie Alethea Casal-Uy, a Binay ally, said they “may be in for a long wait” because Peña had also returned the April 1 to 15 payrolls unsigned.

Uy appealed to Peña to consider the employees’ welfare. “Why is he doing this when all along he has been saying he will not hamper the release of salaries to City Hall employees?” she said.

Reached for comment, Peña cited a 2012 legal opinion of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) which states that “the acting mayor is legally deprived to exercise the functions of the office of the vice mayor and presiding officer by principle of separation of powers.”

READ: CA hasn’t voided Peña’s assumption as acting mayor – DILG

“I’m not trying to block the release of their salaries. The

No. 1 councilor should already assume [the position] as acting vice mayor and legally he or she has the authority to sign the checks and payroll,” Peña said in a text message.

He maintained that he was being guided by the DILG directive recognizing him as acting mayor of the city.

The solution to the issue of delayed salaries, he said, lies in the hands of the councilors since they can “elect among themselves who will act as the presiding officer.”

Peña reiterated that he’s still open to a dialogue with Binay where this and other issues could be settled.

Binay earlier insisted that he and Peña had nothing to talk about since he had secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Ombudsman’s order suspending him for six months over corruption allegations. “We already have a TRO and all they need to do is follow the law,” he said.