Following a nearly unanimous reelection as President of the Liga ng mga Barangay Manila Chapter, the City Council welcomed Chairman Leilani Marie “Lei” Lacuna to her second year as ex officio member, with the passage of its very first resolution for the new year.
Sponsored by Majority Floor Leader Ernesto “Jong” C. Isip Jr., City Council Resolution 1, Series of 2004, resolved to ‘accept’ Lacuna as an ex-officio member of the Council effective 2 January 2024, citing her submission of documents attesting to her reelection as the League’s Chapter President.
“Buong kababaang loob ko pong pinahahayag ang aking pasasalamat sa buong Konseho ng Maynila sa muli nyong pagtanggap at pagkilala sa akin bilang ex-officio member. (Mula pa) sa unang termino ko bilang Pangulo ng Liga ng mga Barangay ay ipinadama ninyo na pantay ang pagtingin at pagturing ninyo (sa lahat) bilang inyong kaisa at kasama (I humbly express my gratitude to the entire City Council of Manila for once again welcoming and recognizing me as an ex-officio member. Since my first term as President of the League of Barangays, we have all been treated fairly and equally as fellow Councilors.)”, Lacuna said in a speech delivered after the resolution’s adoption.
A medical doctor by profession, Lacuna was overwhelmingly voted as Chairman of Barangay 609, Zone 61 in the recent Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. She then ran for a second term as Chapter President, winning by a landslide of 876 votes in an election held on 15 December 2023.
She started serving as City Councilor on 30 June 2022, authoring landmark measures such as City Ordinance 8976 which mandates every barangay in Manila to organize its own tourism committee.
The City Council has two ex-officio members, i.e., the local presidents of the Liga ng mga Barangay and the Pederasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan, pursuant to the Local Government Code of 1991 and Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Act of 2015, respectively.
