Former Congressman Monico Puentevella has declared that he and his family are set to go into a sort of soul-searching, as they embarked on a serious effort to decide his political future.
In an interview with Aksyon Radyo yesterday, Puentevella said with elections coming up next year, he sees the need to unite his whole family on his electoral plans. After their short soul-searching, he will then be able to decide not only on his political future and what position will suit him best. By then, he would be able to make an announcement as to the position he will aspire for and the whole slate as congressman, mayor, down to vice-mayor and councilors. Puentevella, in the interview bared that whatever names have come out are by no means, official. Talks say that he is dead set on running with his tandem for vice-mayor, businessman Vladimir Gonzalez. Talks going the rounds have already indicated this from political pundits who Puentevella’s running mate will be, the candidates for councilors of his slate and his position towards his former partymates in the election, who now call themselves First Five. The talks go that councilor Archie Baribar wants to be Puentevella’s runningmate as vice-mayor. The other members of the First Five namely, Councilors Sonya Verdeflor, El Cid Familiaran, Elmer Sy and "graduating" councilor Catalino Alisbo would not hear of Baribar not running for vice-mayor. On the other side of the political spectrum, Congressman Dr. Anthony Golez who has declared his intention to run for congressman or seek reelection if need be against Mayor Evelio Leonardia, has not indicated who will comprise his slate. From all indications, Golez has kept his political cards close to his chest. But talks say, former Councilor Alex Paglumotan and departing Councilor Homer Bais have already decided to jump over to Golez’ political camp.*(EAC) Submitted by Edgar Cadagat Negros DailyBulletin
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BACOLOD City — Bacolod City College students, city government employees and members of the media planted 1,000 mahogany seedlings at the sanitary landfill in Brgy. Felisa in celebration of the Arbor Day.
The 200 students and the other participants proceeded in a caravan to the landfill site to plant the seedlings along the landfill’s perimeter. City Ordinance 533, series of 2011 institutionalizes the celebration of Arbor Day here. It enjoins all sectors — particularly requiring the city scholars, summer jobbers and BCC students — to participate in the celebration and plant at least 10 seedlings every year. Councilor El Cid Familiaran said the activity is also in compliance with the mandate of President Benigno Aquino III through the National Greening Program. The seedlings were placed about a meter apart to provide a “buffer for the smell and flood,” according to the city’s environment officer. Also, the sanitary landfill was provided with a black liner to filter the water and silt from the wastes so that the water in the cleansing chamber is clean enough to water the seedlings. Mayor Evelio Leonardia thanked the BCC students who joined the tree planting activity. “Bacolod City College is now felt in another scope in the community,” he said. Now the BCC students are “active in civic action … a more comprehensive education for the students,” the mayor said. Other personalities who participated in the activity are Secretary to the Mayor Moises de la Cruz, BCC Administrator Dr. Johanna Ann Bayoneta, Environment and Natural Resources Officer Max Sillo, Clean and Green Task Force Engr. Elma Advincula; Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Environment and Natural Resources head Max Sillo, City Disaster Management’s Joemari Vargas, Executive Assistant Roger Giganan, Department of Department of Public Services head Nelson Sedillo, barangay officials of Felisa and their Punong Barangay Mona Dia Jardin. (With a report from the Philippine Information Agency 6/PN) Panay News Negros The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod passed on second reading recently the Bacolod City Comprehensive Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Ordinance and the city government will allocate P1 million for its implementation.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Carlos Jose Lopez, said the installation of CCTV cameras will aid in solving crimes and in monitoring effectively the flow of traffic in Bacolod City. The CCTV’s will be installed in key strategic places in Bacolod City like main thoroughfares, major artery roads, in busy and congested areas like the public market and city government-run transport terminals, parks and other facilities, the ordinance said. Meanwhile, a resolution requesting Mayor Evelio Leonardia to provide shuttle services for employees of the City of Bacolod, is being proposed by Councilors El Cid Familiaran and Elmer Sy. The resolution said the city has several service vehicles that are not fully utilized, aside from the city’s utility vehicles marked “For official use only”, which can be available for this purpose. It said the provision of shuttle service for the city government workforce at 7 to 7:45 a.m. from the City Hall to the government center, and from the government center at 4:45 p.m.to the City Hall will not only lessen the burden which these employees presently suffer, but will also strategically respond to incidents that may arise in times of man-made disasters, bad weather or typhoons, or other natural calamities.*CGS Visayan Daily Star An ordinance prohibiting business entities and persons charging fees for the use of toilets, comfort rooms or restrooms to senior citizens and persons with disabilities in Bacolod City, was passed on first reading yesterday by the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The ordinance was authored by Councilor El Cid Familiaran and co-authored by Councilor Catalino Alisbo. The ordinance saidsenior citizens and persons with disabilities are considered the most marginalized and vulnerable sectors of society. They are forced to look for free toilets, comfort rooms or restrooms because certain establishments in the city require them to pay first before they can use them, it said. The ordinance saidrequiring elderly and persons with disabilities to pay such fees since they are less mobile and capable of walking further to respond to the call of nature. Business establishments or persons who violate the ordinance will be fined P3,000 or suffer imprisonment not to exceed one year or both, at the discretion of the Court. The same penalty will apply for failure to post signages, it said. The SP also approved a resolution yesterday requesting the City Engineer’s Office and the Bacolod Authority Office through the Office of Mayor Evelio Leonardia to repaint or put up pedestrian lanes in front of, or near public and private schools in Bacolod City. Authored by Councilor Caesar Distrito, the resolution said it is the thrust of the government to secure the safety of the students, teachers and other members of the society in crossing the street. The resolution said pedestrian lanes in most of the schools in Bacolod City have already faded or not existing which makes them unsafe. It said one way of promoting road safety and minimizing vehicular accidents is to educate the students by compelling them to use the pedestrian lanes in crossing the streets. The presence of pedestrian lanes, will give students and other citizens a proper area for crossing the street and be safer.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star The celebration of the 74th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Bácolod went on smoothly. The only fly in the cake is the opposition of Rep. Anthony Golez that was ignored. We must applaud Councilors El Cid Familiarian, Archie Barbar, Sonia Verdeflor and Catalino Alisbo who, despite their being members of the political opposition in the city, supported and joined the celebration. They set aside petty politics for a common good.
Every democracy needs a good opposition but not mindless, unreasonable and disruptive opposition that only make life for the city miserable and our people disunited. These councilors are not allies of Mayor Bing Leonardia but they joined hands in a historic moment. Others who, instead of helping, sabotaged the celebrations will later on just be laid in the wayside. These are times when political alliances become part of the daily news fare. The United Nationalist Alliance between former President Joseph Estrada’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino and Vice President’s Laban are leading the way in alliance and have, in fact, already bared its first eight senatorial candidates. Lately, Rep. Cynthia Villar expressed the view that her husband’s Nacionalista Party may coalesce with the administration’s Liberal Party in a bid to get into the LP senatorial line-up which, so far, has a bland list of senatorial candidates. Coalition of parties had always been a hallmark of Philippine politics even when we had only two dominant parties, the Liberal and the Nacionalista. There was an attempt by a Democratic Party organized by Carlos Romulo for the presidential election in 1949 but it died after its miserable defeat which strengthened our two-party system which is similar to that of the United States and the United Kingdom. After Martial Law, however, when new political parties were organized, not one party has dominated the political landscape except the temporary alliance of opportunistic politicians. The Nationalist People’s Coalition headed by Eduardo Cojuangco is a single unified party big enough to be considered “dominant” although it does not have a majority in Congress or in the local level, except perhaps in Occidental Negros. This is not uncommon for a country to have a multi-party system. In fact, the 1987 Constitution has encouraged the formation of multi-party organizations as a counter-balance against the two parties that had been our tradition since the American period but these parties merely revolved from one election to another, a musical chair. Moreover, the two parties, Liberal and Nacionalista are no different from each other. Only politicians changed places depending where the wind blows. Turncoatism is the order of the day. The multi-party system necessarily leads to alliances. In some countries where there is a rule of a majority, meaning a party must win the majority votes otherwise a run-off election is conducted alliances are part of the process of forming a government. In this kind of government, whenever a party does not get the majority, another election is held immediately but this time the choice will be between the two that got the highest number of votes, the others are disqualified. This case is ideal for alliances. The small parties and the top two usually enter into an alliance or a coalition to secure the majority seat and enable it to form a government. In our case, we follow not the majority system, but the plurality system – whoever gets the highest number of votes, though not a majority is declared winner. A government then, like that of President Fidel Ramos, can become a minority government. He had only 23 percent of the total number of votes but he was president. In the US the parties need not coalesce to get a majority and form the government because they have an Electoral College that votes in accordance with mandate from the states where a candidate won. Alliances or coalitions are good and important for small political groups to join forces to secure the election. In the case of Bácolod, we do not have alliances because we get the groups of co-mingled personalities. Bing Leonardia has his Grupo Progreso that propelled him back to City Hall but Monopal disintegrated when it lost the election in 2010 because it was not a coalition or a party, but only a grouping of politicians seeking election by putting together their collective resources. We now have a new grouping coming out. This time it is the group of Monico Puentevella with Vladimir Gonzales which is formed for resource-effectiveness rather than political principles or platform of government. Because the main consideration in this alliance is money, those with less are being shunted aside. Reports say that Puentevella is trying to pacify them, but if Leonardia gets wise, he can make the offer to these erstwhile Puentevella heavy weights and dry up Puentevella’s stable of winning candidates.* WITH MODESTO P. SA-ONOY Visayan Daily Star An ordinance establishing a comprehensive, sustainable development program for shelter services and poverty alleviation of informal settlers in Bacolod City, was passed on third and final reading Friday by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The ordinance was authored by Councilor El Cid Familiaran and co-authored by Councilors Dindo Ramos, Archie Baribar Caesar Distrito, Em Legaspi-Ang, Roberto Rojas and Mona Dia Jardin. The ordinance said there is a need for the city to come up with a comprehensive sustainable development program for shelter services and poverty alleviation to respond and protect the basic rights of poor and homeless citizens and informal settlers against eviction and demolition, as well as theirtransfer to relocation sites. The ordinance provides that privately owned property or land utilized asoff-siteor relocation site for informal settlers should be provided with basic services, among others. The ordinance also provides that an appropriate housing program will be undertaken by the city, to provide land tenure security to marginalized fisherfolk families living along 14 coastal barangays in Bacolod pursuant to R.A. 7160, or theLocal Government Code of 1991and Republic Act 8550 or thePhilippine Fisheries Code of 1998. It also provides for the creation of the BacolodUrban Poor Council for the effective representation of poor and informal settlers, which will be composed of a representative each from the different urban poor groups and federation of marginalized fisherfolks, the Urban Poor Desk of the Social Action Center, and non-government organizations working with urban poor associations. The ordinance also provides for the creation of theBacolodLocal Housing Board to monitor all eviction and demolition, whether voluntary, extra-judicial, summary, or court-ordered, and to require proponent of an eviction and demolition compliance certificate. The City Mayor is mandated to convene theBacolodLocal Housing Board within 30 days from the effectivity of the ordinance, it said.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star BACOLOD City Councilors El Cid Familiaran and Elmer Sy have proposed to provide the city employees with free shuttle service.
They believe that the city employees deserve to be provided with such free shuttle service, considering that many of the city vehicles are not fully utilized. The two proposed to fetch the city employees at the old City Hall at Araneta-Luzuriaga from 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. and bring them to the Bacolod City Government Center. In the afternoon, the shuttle service will again park at 4:45 p.m. at the NGC and bring these employees back to the old City Hall. Familiaran and Sy said that these employees serve Bacolod until their retirement. Thus, they deserve to be provided with such service. However, the proposal has been deferred by the council for further study. By Carla N. Canet Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod GOLEZ OBJECTION
A Malacañang source, however, said although the draft of the Presidential Proclamation was already prepared, Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez Jr. had filed a vehement objection against the declaration of June 18 as a holiday in Bacolod. Ang said they have been receiving a lot of inquiries from the schools, banks and offices especially that today is a Friday. People wanted to know if Monday will be declared a holiday or not so that they can notify the students, as well as their clients and employees, she said. The Charter Anniversary celebration last year fell on a Saturday Ang said they are proposing an ordinance in today’s session declaring June 18 of every year as “Paghanduraw Day”. This is the commemoration of the signing of the city’s charter, she said. The ordinance is authored by Councilor Archie Baribar and co-authored by Councilors El Cid Familiaran, Sonya Verdeflor, Mona Dia Jardin and Ang*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star The Rotary Club of Bacolod, will celebrate its 75th Charter Anniversary and turnover ceremony at La Proa Ballroom of L’ Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City 7 p.m. Saturday.
Former Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar will be the guest speaker at the diamond anniversary on the theme "Peace through Service," a club press release said. In June, 1937, the Rotary Club of Bacolod received its charter from the Rotary International, becoming the fourth Rotary club to be founded in the Philippines next to Manila, Cebu and Iloilo in that order, it said. There were 21 charter members, all distinguished citizens of Bacolod headed by Ricardo Nolan, an American soldier under Admiral Dewey, who opted to remain in the Philippines and marry into the Lizares Family, the press release added. Superintendent Roderick Alba will be the first police officer to be the president of the Rotary Club of Bacolod after 75 years. Leilani Salem-Alba is vice president, Vicky Don – secretary, Jonathan Avelino – assistant secretary, Jovy Linga – treasurer, Jun Alemany and El Cid Familiaran – sergeant at arms, Maida Torre – parliamentarian, Past District Governor Edgar Sy - club ddviser; Glen de Guzman - immediate past president and Gregory Andrew Julian Mapa - president elect. Part of the countdown for the diamond year is a motorcade and mass at the Redemptorist Church on Friday, the press release added.* Visayan Daily Star Bacolod Councilor Homer Bais yesterday said he will invite Bacolod City Schools Superintendent Gemma Ledesma to appear before the Sangguniang Panlungsod to shed light on the K + 12 program of the Department of Education.
K to 12 means kindergarten and the 12 years of elementary and secondary curriculum. The adoption of the K to 12 Basic Education Program is a priority program of President Benigno Aquino III, to give every student an opportunity to receive quality education based on an enhanced and decongested curriculum internationally recognized and comparable. Bais, chairman of the Committee on Education, said Christian Tuayon of AKBAYAN has filed a complaint opposing the implementation of K + 12 program saying it is a waste of time and money and an additional burden for the parents. He said they believe that the K + 12 program will make the students and graduates globally competitive and the city has no recourse but to follow the marching order of the President and the Department of Education. Bais said the city has already prepared for the K + 12 program as Bacolod was chosen as one of the pilot cities for its implementation. The local DepEd, on the other hand, will still submit a report to the city relative to the number of enrollees and other needs for it to act on, Bais said. The backlog on classrooms is manageable this year as there are ongoing construction of classrooms and school buildings to meet the need of the city for additional school facilities, he said. Meanwhile, an appropriation ordinance allocating P50 million for essential needs of the City of Bacolod as requested by acting Bacolod Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, was approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod yesterday. The request was made through acting Vice Mayor and presiding officer Councilor El Cid Familiaran. The fund will be sourced from the Cumulative Operating Surplus under the General Fund as certified by City Accountant Eduardo Ravena. The breakdown of the P50 million include the concreting of roads and the construction of footwalk in various barangays, construction of covered court, lot acquisition for the public plaza of Brgy. Bata, financial assistance to Brgy. Granada for the construction of a Barangay Hall, financial assistance for Bacolod City College projects, among others.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO The Visayan Daily Star |
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