THE rumor mill in Manila is far from stopping.
Recently, a social media post tried to create an intrigue that was apparently aimed at driving a wedge between Mayor Honey Lacuna and former Mayor Isko Moreno.
For the record, the two are like real siblings who respect and love each other dearly, having been together in many ups and downs of their respective personal and political lives.
Former Mayor, now Citizen Isko, whose only family was his late mother before he had his wife and children, has always considered the Lacuna family as his own.
In the same breadth, the Lacuna family headed by its patriarch, former Manila Vice Mayor Danny Lacuna who happens to be my best buddy, also consider Citizen Isko as part of their brood.
The very tight relationship that former Mayor Isko and Mayor Honey is such that the former fondly calls her “Ate” and the latter treats him as her own younger brother.
The harmony became more evident specially when they became mayor and vice mayor of Manila.
Ever supportive of each other, Isko, as mayor then, never treated then Vice Mayor Honey as a spare tire.
In fact, she was made to become a very active, working partner who was part of everything that took place in Manila and the city government, so much so that she knew and understood each undertaking Mayor Isko had, inside out and became amply prepared for the mayorship.
For her part, unlike other vice mayors whose main preoccupation is praying that their mayor trip or worse, perish, then Vice Mayor Honey always had the best intentions in mind for her mayor.
As Vice Mayor and concurrent Presiding Officer of the 38-member Manila City Council, she had consistently shown support for her mayor in every way possible.
When the pandemic hit, the two became even much closer, taking their meals together on a daily basis while constantly discussing what needs to be done to address the health emergency situation.
The Moreno-Lacuna team showed to one and all the beauty of having a mayor and a vice mayor who are not into constant bickering and instead, who are constantly supportive of each other.
The progress in Manila came at a dizzying pace, making the city lead in nearly all aspects of governance and its citizens, enjoy the benefits at the fullest.
Apparently, their political foes envy these two and they now want to break the bond that spelled success for governance in Manila.
In the recently-concluded election, the Asenso Manileno, our local party in Manila, made a clean sweep of all the elective posts in the city, from the mayor, vice mayor, 36 Councilors and six Congressmen.
Clearly, the success of our party is deeply rooted in unity and the special bond between its two leaders, Mayor Isko and Mayor Honey, who have shown to one and all the true meaning of the age-old saying, ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’
The desperate, futile attempts of our local political foes to turn Mayor Isko and Mayor Honey against each other are bound to fail. Better luck next time.
Indeed, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
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