Benitez takes oath as Bacolod mayor, vows review of City Hall deals

By Glazyl Y. Masculino and Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Former Negros Occidental Congressman Alfredo “Albee” Benitez took his oath of office last Thursday as the new local chief executive of Bacolod beginning June 30, 2022.

Benitez, along with lone district Rep. Greg Gasataya, and other winning councilors of Team Asenso took oath before Barangay Singcang-Airport Captain Rosinie Distrito, brother of Benitez’s vice-mayoralty candidate, Atty. Caesar Distrito, who is also a former councilor here.

Benitez held the oath-taking at the said village, considering that Barangay Singcang-Airport delivered the biggest margin of votes for him and Gasataya, who won his reelection bid, with 5,662 votes and 7,247 votes respectively.

Benitez ended the term of incumbent Mayor Evelio Leonardia, with a margin of 64,446 votes.

Benitez garnered 171,893 votes while Leonardia got 107,447 votes.

In his acceptance speech, Benitez thanked the people of Barangay Singcang-Airport and the supporters of Team Asenso for believing in their capacity to lead the city.

“Ang amon nga promisa nga pagbag-o sa Bacolod magasugod subong,” Benitez said, adding that he will go the extra mile in governance and service for the city.

Leonardia had filed an election protest before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office in Manila citing the alleged “massive vote buying” in the recent elections here.

Leonardia has asked the Comelec to conduct a manual recount of all 450 clustered precincts here and declare failure of elections and conduct special polls here due to fake voters being allowed to cast their votes that resulted to the “mysterious and unbelievable” outcome last May 9, 2022.

In response, Benitez, in a statement, said the “baseless and frivolous” complaint filed by the incumbent mayor is another desperate move of one who refuses to accept the truth.

A day after Benitez won the mayoralty race, he met with different sectors to hear their concerns as he began working towards his group’s goal of change for a better Bacolod.

REVIEW

Meanwhile, Benitez said he will review and audit all previous transactions at the City Hall, as demanded by the public in the “spirit of transparency.”

Benitez said that he created a “Truth Commission” for this purpose so “we will know our starting point.”

Benitez also called on Leonardia to “move on.”

“The election is finished. There is much work to be done,” Benitez said.