Malacañang said on Sunday President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had nor wanted Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to resign as special adviser to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

In his resignation letter to Marcos, he said the Palace’s pronouncements “undermined the role and mandate entrusted to me.” He also said he would continue the campaign against corruption despite leaving ICI.

Magalong earlier labelled the accusations thrown against him as “below the belt” after he was tagged to the P118-million tennis court constructed by a firm owned by the Discayas.

“Hindi tayo ang nag-bring up niyan (We were not the ones who brought that up),” she said.

Magalong maintained that the tennis court project went through a transparent bidding in 2022.

He also said a third-party audit is being conducted regarding the Discaya projects in Baguio, including the tennis court. The Baguio City mayor cited that the court has minor defects like the placing of the pavement that removes the paint.

The Baguio City LGU, he noted, has withheld the remaining P26-million payment to St. Gerrard Construction.

Magalong’s resignation had been preceded by Palace Press Officer Claire Castro saying on September 26 that Marcos Jr.’s legal team was reviewing his appointment over questions of conflict of interest over his being Baguio mayor.

Castro said then that lawyers were also looking into whether it would be simpler to just revoke Magalong’s appointment to the ICI, something that drew the mayor’s ire.