Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Makati Mayor Abby Binay on Friday told Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to be “man enough” to admit that the city government of Taguig failed to match the health services provided by Makati to Embo barangays.

READ: Herbosa likened to Pontius Pilate over Makati-Taguig dispute

Binay made the pronouncement after the Senate plenary discussions on the proposed 2025 budget of the Department of Health (DOH) where Cayetano berated Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa for allegedly failing to extend health services to residents of the Embo barangays.

Binay, who is gunning for a senatorial seat in the 2025 elections, accused Cayetano of pinning the blame on Herbosa when the health services in the Embo barangays, including the distribution of free medicines, were Taguig’s responsibility.

“The problem with Senator Alan Cayetano is that he is blaming others to hide the failures of the Taguig leadership to serve the health needs of Embo residents,” Binay”s statement read.

“He should stop using his position to intimidate the DOH and other national government agencies to do his bidding,” she added.

She also claimed that Cayetano was using the Senate as a platform to bully the Makati government.

“He should be man enough to admit his shortcomings,” she added.

Binay said she was “baffled” by Cayateno’s treatment of Herbosa, pointing out that the Taguig government made repeated declarations that it is capable of providing the same health services once provided by Makati to Embo residents.

“It has been more than a year since the Supreme Court decided to give the Embo barangays to Taguig. Makati even did what was expected of a good neighbor, even if it was not reciprocated by Taguig, by continuing to provide health services for Embo residents until the end of 2023. One year is more than enough time for them to work on their health programs,” she added.

The mayor then doubled down on her criticisms against Cayetano and the city government of Taguig, questioning whether Taguig even increased its health budget, particularly for the health services that were supposed to be provided to Embo residents.

Furthermore, Binay pointed out that Taguig’s refusal to sign a Memorandum of Agreement ( MOA) with Makati is the root of the problem.

“All our proposals to ensure that the health centers will remain open were rejected by Taguig. Taguig simply wants to take over the health centers, which were built and maintained with Makati taxpayers’ money. They want to take over the health centers and for Makati to file a case in court. That is unacceptable. Panggugulang ang tawag doon (That is trickery),” Binay said.

“The offer still stands. Sign the MOA. Tapos ang usapan (end of the discussion),” she said.

Binay also urged national government agencies to inspect public facilities in Taguig and to release their findings to the public, after personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conducted surprise inspections of Ospital ng Makati and the University of Makati where no violations were found.

“In the interest of fairness, we ask the concerned national agencies to also conduct an inspection of Taguig Hospital, Taguig University, and other public facilities of Taguig and make public their report,” she said.

Embo barangays is the collective term for Barangays Pembo, Comembo, Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Pitogo, Rizal, Northside, and Southside, which are situated within the Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation, along with Bonifacio Global City.

The barangays used to be part of Makati’s jurisdiction until a Supreme Court decision ruled that Taguig has the rightful jurisdiction over the entire Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation.

INQUIRER.net has already sought a comment or a response from Cayetano’s camp, but has yet to receive a response as of writing.

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