By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — After Cong. Evelio “Bing” Leonardia criticized his state of the city address, Mayor Monico “Newks” Puentevella shot back a response, saying he was yet to know of the former’s significant contributions as legislator.
For saying that the mayor’s address only tried to hide the inadequacies of the current administration, Leonardia failed to recognize the big improvements in the city he used to lead, Puentevella said.
“It’s been a year and we have yet to hear his voice in Congress,” the mayor said of his political archenemy.
Puentevella delivered the public address, which he dubbed “Ulat ni Mayor,” on Tuesday, when he also celebrated his 68th birthday.
He had said the new city hall leadership had been working on the problems left unaddressed by the previous administration under Leonardia.
Leonardia reacted to the speech, saying Puentevella’s address was “a long-winding excuse and cover-up for the failures and shortcomings of his administration.”
Puentevella had “nothing to show as his accomplishments, so he entertained the people with a collection of empty sound bites on the same half-truths and lies he has always been peddling and keeps repeating about my administration,” the former mayor said in a press release.
“Maybe,” Leonardia said, “he subscribes to the theory of that Nazi official, whose motto was that if you repeat a lie often enough, it will soon appear as the truth.”
According to the solon, Puentevella has neither built a single road nor erected a single street light in his 12 months in the city hall.
“It has been 12 months already, and he has not stopped whining and blaming others for his own failures,” said Leonardia.
Puentevella succeeded Leonardia after winning in the May 2013 mid-term election.
Leonardia used to call the city mayor’s yearly public address “SOCA,” short for State of the City Address, but Puentevella, cringing at the sound of the acronym, changed the address’ title to “Ulat ni Mayor.”
Puentevella also changed the city hall’s name from “Bacolod New Government Center” to “People’s House.”
According to the mayor, “his (Leonardia) reaction was natural for a political opposition.”
Puentevella likened his differences with Leonardia to those of senators Miriam Defensor–Santiago and Juan Ponce Enrile.
The mayor said there were significant changes in the city that the congressman only refused to acknowledge.
One of these, he stressed, was the clearing of vendors along Bonifacio Street — the pertinent problem that Leonardia’s administration failed to address.
In his “Ulat,” Puentevella said the city government has incurred P665.5 million in debt, including a P391.3 million from the Philippine National Bank for the construction of the Bacolod New Government Center in 2006, P33.8 million from the Development Bank of the Philippines for the construction of the sanitary landfill in Brgy. Felisa in 2008, and P240.3 million for the acquisition and development of the Arao property in Brgy. Vista Alegre, which now serves as relocation site.
In defense, Leonardia pointed out that his administration was able to deliver projects and services even with the said obligations.
He also said the city’s loans have “made his (Puentevella) life as mayor a lot easier than mine had been.”
Puentevella “should stop using my administration as scapegoat for his inadequacies,” said Leonardia. “It is time for Puentevella to assume responsibility for the true state of the city.”/PN
