Isko: Manila has P10 billion debt to service contractors

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Isko Moreno yesterday slammed the allegedly anomalous transactions during the previous administration, which he said resulted in an estimated P10.2 billion worth of unpaid obligations to the city government’s service contractors.

Twenty-one city hall employees made cash advances worth P2.1 billion in the first five months of 2025, Moreno said during his inaugural “State of the City Address” on Tuesday.

The funds were reportedly used for the “Kasama” program, job order or JO and other election-related services, “masked as public service costs,” Moreno said.

An online check showed the Kasama program is the same as the Kalinga sa Manileño, an emergency job fair program instituted during the term of former mayor Honey Lacuna.

Moreno said four city officials under the previous administration allegedly made cash advances.

“One of them had a cash advance of P132 million in just one day, particularly on May 9, 2025 or three days before election day. Another made a cash advance worth P641 million from February to April 2025,” he said.

Another city hall official made a cash advance worth P1.1 billion from September 2024 to February 2025, Moreno said.

A female city hall official transferred P683 million from the general fund to the trust fund from January to March, without any authority, according to Moreno.

“Maybe that’s why there is a vault in my office,” he said.

Moreno also criticized the hiring of an additional 1,500 JO personnel, from 8,309 to 9,830 from December 2024 to March 2025.

An estimated P10.2 billion remains unpaid to the city government’s service providers, including garbage collection, infrastructure repairs and social pensions, he said.

Moreno ordered the creation of Task Force FACTS or Fiscal Accountability, Cost Transparency and Spending to look into how the unsettled obligations would be paid.