Councilor hits back at Peña on use of interns

A Makati City councilor lashed back at Mayor Romulo Peña after he assailed the delayed implementation of the local government’s student internship program for political reasons.

Marie Alethea Casal Uy, chair of the council’s Committee on Appropriations and Budget, claimed that it was Peña who earlier used these programs to campaign for himself and his allies.

In a phone interview on Friday, Uy said the council received complaints in December that Peña had hired around 200 beneficiaries of the Government Internship Program (GIP) to “go around the city” along with his allies who are running for councilors in the May 9 elections. Peña, the vice mayor who took over in July 2015 after the suspension of Junjun Binay, is running for mayor against Rep. Abby Binay, Junjun’s sister.

“They were sending the children to those places to campaign…And for that they used the P2-million budget for the summer (program),” Uy said, adding she had photos to prove those activities.

Uy said the GIP was then being handled by the Makati Action Center (MAC), which she called Peña’s “political arm.” Under the program, the students are supposed to help with office work at City Hall, take part in cleanup drives or assist in the local census for 20 working days, she said.

But the council, she said, received complaints from “parents (who) were asking: ‘Is that what our children are supposed to be learning? Putting up campaign materials?’”

Hearing this, the council asked MAC officer in charge Arthur Cruto to appear in the deliberations for the 2016 budget, but he never showed up despite being called three times, Uy added.

“That was one of the reasons why our budget approval was delayed. We should have been finished with it in December, but deliberations were extended up to February (2016),” Uy added.

She also pointed out that Peña never objected when it was decided by the council that the GIP would not be included in the 2016 budget “to protect students from being used politically.”

“We are just doing our job and being diligent in protecting the city’s money,” she added.