Mayor Abby Binay apologized for the confusion caused by an alleged marketing gimmick around Gil Puyat Avenue.
It can be recalled that many netizens called out the people who changed the street signs of Gil Puyat to Gil Tulog.
The change was believed to be part of a marketing campaign for a company selling sleeping aids.
On July 26, the said street sign was replaced with the original one again.
In a statement, Mayor Binay said that the marketing campaign didn’t reach her office.
She also apologized to the relatives of late Senate President Gil Puyat.
“It is unfortunate that the request for a permit for the so-called advertising campaign to change the street signs of Gil Puyat Avenue did not reach my office. Kung dumaan sa akin yan, rejected yan agad,” she said.
“The city officials who issued the permit should have exercised prudence. They should have been more thorough. Dapat inisip ang kaguluhan na maaaring idulot sa mga motorista at komyuter. At dapat ay binigyang halaga ang respeto sa pamilya at sa alaala ni dating Senate President Gil Puyat. I have already reprimanded these officials for this glaring oversight,” she added.
Meanwhile, Victor Puyat, the son of Puyat Sr. expressed his disappointment on the marketing campaign.
“What was happened to our sense of respect for each other,” said Puyat. “There is a line we should not cross so we can maintain our own self respect, and for everone else,”
“Our name is not to be violated, by reasons that are financial, political or otherwise,” he added.
Puyat was a senator from 1951 until 1973 and even became a senate president for six years.
He passed away on March 23, 1980.
As of writing the company behind the marketing campaign has yet to give their official statement.