Muntinlupa mayor asks Arroyo for added PNP presence

(Updated 5:31 p.m.) As its crippled city hall opened after last Friday's devastating fire, the Muntinlupa City government on Monday asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for added police presence. With President Arroyo were Vice-President Noli de Castro, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando. Radio station dzBB reported Andaya said some P50 million will be released to help the local government fund the construction of its new building. The local government, on the other hand, assured that they will continue providing services to the residents as some departments are now holding office in the People’s Center. Mayor Aldrin San Pedro said he suspects something fishy in at least two "incidents" that occurred in past weeks, which he said tended to disrupt the city's operations. "I will ask her to augment the PNP forces here. Almost a month after I took office, there have been at least two incidents here," San Pedro said in Filipino during an interview on dzRH radio, shortly before Mrs Arroyo was scheduled to visit residents affected by Friday's fire. He did not elaborate on the incidents. A reported nephew of presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, city administrator Roberto Bunye, was shot and wounded in an ambush last month. On Sunday, the mayor said an unidentified man called up to claim the public market would be "next," apparently insinuating that there would be a repeat of the huge fire that engulfed the Muntinlupa City Hall. The blaze, which reached the general alarm, broke out at about 11:30 a.m. Friday while fire out was declared at 3 p.m. San Pedro noted that the incidents occurred after his administration started looking into alleged anomalies by the past city administration. In the public market alone, San Pedro said, a cleanup of daily operations resulted in a dramatic boost in daily income, from P40,000 a day to P200,000 a day. "Now that we're cleaning up the transactions of the past administration, the incidents started. I suspect those behind the irregularities don't want us to find out, so they're trying to distract us," he said. The mayor said he has ordered the local fire department to dig deeper in its investigation into Friday's fire. Citing reports reaching him, San Pedro said at least one person has been picked up for questioning after "joking" to a city hall employee to pay up or suffer the consequences. "We picked up the guy for questioning after he told an employee of city hall to 'massage' him (masahehin mo ako) or there will be a fire," he said. "I told the local fire chief to dig deeper and see if there are personalities behind the fire," he added. Meanwhile, San Pedro will also ask the President for funds to help rebuild city hall. He earlier said the city government plans to relocate city hall to the Alabang area. San Pedro said city hall will not run at 100 percent efficiency after the fire, with some of the employees relocated to a nearby action center. He said skeleton crews are manning some of the offices that the fire destroyed last Friday. "At least each department has functioning staff. Operations will not be totally paralyzed, we made sure of that last weekend," he said. - GMANews.TV