Makati’s seniors get cupcakes, not cakes

MANILA, Philippines – Senior citizens living in Makati City won’t get birthday cakes, at least for now.

Until the city government gets a new supplier through public bidding, Mayor Abby Binay said yesterday she has resorted to giving a set of six cupcakes to seniors celebrating their birthday.

“Tanggapin ninyo ang malugod kong pagbati sa iyong kaarawan. Kalakip ng aking pagbati ang paumanhin na sa ngayon ay wala pang maibibigay na birthday cake sa inyong kaarawan (Please accept my greetings on your birthday. With my greetings is an apology that for now there is no birthday cake),” Binay said in a letter she signed July 1.

The letter is enclosed in the box of cupcakes bought from Dimpy’s Kitchen. Binay said she buys the cupcakes with her own money, not city government funds.

Binay blamed former mayor Romulo Peña Jr. for his alleged negligence in processing the papers for the birthday cakes of senior citizens.

She also insisted that the city government could not provide birthday cakes for them pending the results of the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation on the allegedly overpriced cakes.

Peña was charged with graft in September 2015 in connection with the allegation.

Binay’s spokesman, Michael Camiña, said the cake contract during Peña’s administration ended in December 2015 and the former mayor reportedly extended the contract on a monthly basis until June.

In an invitation to bid posted on The STAR, the Makati is bidding out a contract to supply birthday cakes for senior citizens for P11.48 million.

Peña, on the other hand, said the city government has the option to extend the contract.

In the graft complaint against Peña, former vice mayor Bobby Brillante said Peña suspended the procurement with Timstate/Bakerite Food and Beverage Corp. when he replaced then mayor Junjun Binay, who was suspended by the ombudsman while under investigation for the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building 2 and the Makati Science High School building.

The cakes supplied during former vice president Jejomar Binay’s term as mayor were from the Millennium Food Chain Corp. where his children – Abby, Junjun and Nancy, now a senator – were founding directors, according to a report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

The AMLC reported the link and froze the bank accounts of the Binays and their alleged fronts while the investigation by the ombudsman is ongoing.