Manila City councilors engage in near fistfight

Tension rose at the Manila City Council session hall between the majority group of the administration and minority group from opposition on Tuesday afternoon.

The near altercation was between minority leaders Fourth District Councilor Joel Villanueva and Fifth District councilor Philip Lacuna and Benny Abante following the deliberation on the passage of 2025 city’s P25-billion annual budget.

Reports said that the passage of the budget was allegedly inserted in the Tuesday session agenda which was not part of the schedule topic to be discussed at the session.

In an interview by DAILY TRIBUNE, minority leaders said that the budgetary topic for 2025 was not part of the scheduled agenda for the day.

According to the source, the proper legislative procedure for budget deliberation should be initiated by the committee on appropriations, followed by budgetary hearings involving all departments and offices in the city. Only then should the budget be discussed in the council session.

The source further claimed that the majority group sought to bypass this procedure as a matter of routine practice and intended to expedite the approval of the budget, even though there were still three months before the end of the year.