Mayor denies party ejected congressman

BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia denied that lone district Rep. Greg Gasataya was rejected by or driven out of Grupo Progreso.

Leonardia made the statement in reaction to Gasataya’s claim during the DYHB-organized Debate Serye 2022 that he did not leave GP but was ousted from the group.

The mayor said in a press statement that it is now clear to GP supporters and the people of Bacolod that if the congressman found himself in the company of the rival camp, it was because of his own making.

“He was the one who ousted himself from Grupo Progreso, not us,” the mayor said.

Months in the run-up to the filing of the Certificate of Candidacy in October 2021 and many weeks after the COC filing, Gasataya claimed neutrality in the mayoral contest between Leonardia and former congressman Albee Benitez.

But Leonardia said Gasataya’s actions and pronouncements on the ground showed otherwise.

“His declaration of neutrality was a sham,” Leonardia, further reiterating an earlier statement he made in a November 2021 press conference, said.

At the Debate Serye for congressional candidates by DYHB, Gasataya’s rival, businessman Daniel Alfonso “Aksyon Dan” Atayde, asked the former if he left GP (on his own volition) or he was ousted by the group.

Gasataya replied: “Klaro na nga gin sikway ako kag gin pahalin”. (It is clear that I was rejected and eventually ousted).

He further insinuated that his departure from the group was the handiwork of the mayor’s political operators, a claim which GP said is unfounded.

Gasataya further claimed that Atayde was already his replacement in waiting, an accusation that was again belied by the party.

“Greg is just trying to save his face by looking for a scapegoat. Dan Atayde became part of the GP family only last March 8, 2022, while Gasataya, as our leaders down the grassroots testified, had been doing the 11 rounds of the barangays already with our rival camp, even long before the COC filing in October.”

“Even with these persistent feedbacks then, we still included him in our tarps and other materials that we used when we filed our COCs last Oct. 6, hoping and believing that he will stay neutral as he had claimed,” the mayor said.”