NAVOTAS Mayor John Rey Tiangco has highlighted the city’s growing role as a national hub for smart cold chain logistics and the Blue Economy during the recent 2025 Metro Manila Business Conference in Quezon City.
Speaking before business leaders, trade groups, and government officials, Tiangco said Navotas is not just participating in the cold chain industry but is “shaping it,” adding that the city’s infrastructure and sectoral leadership position it as the Cold Chain Capital of the Region.
“For Navotas, cold storage and logistics are economic lifelines. Strengthening them means preserving value, dignity, and opportunity, not just for our city, but for the broader supply chain that depends on us.”
Navotas also accounts for 27 of MM’s 74 BFAR-accredited cold storage facilities or 36 percent of the region’s total. These facilities contribute over 26,700 metric tons or 38.26 percent of the region’s total cold storage volume.
Call for accountability in flood control projects backed
Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco threw his full support of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s bold and necessary move to expose and confront the staggering anomalies in our nation’s flood control programs.
The revelation that 6,021 projects worth over ₱350-billion or more than 60% of the total number of projects, lack basic project details is not just alarming; it is unacceptable.
“As representative of Navotas, a city that is below sea level, I know firsthand what’s at stake. Our people endure rising waters, damaged homes, disrupted livelihoods, and threats to health and safety. Every peso wasted or misused on flood control is a betrayal of communities like ours.”
“We can’t and won’t allow critical infrastructure to become a playground for inefficiency or worse, corruption,” he vowed.
“Scrapping small House committee not enough”
Congressman Tiangco thanked the House Committee on Appropriations for heeding his call to abolish the practice of creating a small committee to handle amendments to the proposed national budget.
However, he emphasized that the removal of the small committee is just the first step toward promoting transparency in budget deliberations.
Tiangco urged the appropriations body to commit that all individual amendments be done in open plenary sessions.
Revealing 2025 small committee amendments, first step to budget reform
The Navotas legislator has doubled down his challenge to the House Committee on Appropriations to fully disclose all amendments made by the small committee to the 2025 national budget, calling it the essential first step toward genuine budget reform.
Before discussing the 2026 budget, Congress must first come clean on how the 2025 budget was altered.
“Sa lahat ng bagay, bago ka humingi ng bagong budget, dapat ipakita mo muna ‘yong paggastos sa nakaraang budget. Bago pag-usapan ang 2026 budget, dapat lang na ipakita muna ang 2025 small committee amendments,” Tiangco said.
