By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
SHOCKING thus intriguing. It’s the “talk of the town” now.
This was the recent unexpected announcement of Negros Occidental administrator Rayfrando Diaz II not to renew his pro-bono consultancy at the city government of Bacolod effective Dec. 31, 2022.
Many raised their eye brows. Negros political pundits find it hard to believe the “cerebral justifications” on Diaz’s decision to cease from being a consultant to Bacolod City’s Mayor Albee Benitez. They’re “best of friends” after all.
A little throwback: Diaz’s perceived invasion of Bacolod (though gratis et amore) was met with a “silent protest” to the highest level.
Widely-acknowledged as the “brain” behind the excellent systematization of the provincial capitol, Diaz was tapped to be a consultant to Mayor Albee on administrative matters and system review.
Joining him were two other capitol executives – Dr. Mary Ann Palermo-Maestral, chief of the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital, as consultant to the mayor on health and hospital matters; and Lucille Gelvolea, head of the Provincial Economic Enterprise Development Division (PEEDD), as consultant to the mayor on special projects and economic affairs.
Their consultancy contracts, when submitted for approval by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) of Bacolod in August, weren’t a “walk in the park”. It took almost a month of “hiatus” and lots of “prodding” from the mayor before their contracts were approved in October last year.
In a previous statement amid the hullabaloo on the consultancy, Diaz stressed, “We don’t claim to solve everything, but we are there (in the city) to help 100 percent regardless if we are busy here (at the Capitol). If we are required to advise the mayor, we are obliged to come to him.”
And once, in a health gab in Bacolod in November, Diaz was heard saying on stage that he wanted to be part of the soon to be milestone(s) to be produced by the vivid unity of Negros Occidental’s Gov. Bong Lacson and Mayor Albee.
But now, the questions are:
* What went wrong?
* Did their (political) relationship soured?
Let’s dissect Diaz’s three contentions on disengaging as consultant to Mayor Albee based on his media interview on Dec. 29, 2022.
CONTENTION NO. 1
‘Daw daku ang responsibility’
First thing first, didn’t he know the enormous tasks of being a provincial administrator and at the same time consultant to the mayor of Bacolod?
Saying “daw daku ang responsibility” is incongruous to his previous pronouncements at the height of the proposed consultancy brouhaha, according to a political analyst.
Deemed the “toughest guy” at the capitol, a lot expected Diaz to weather the “uncontainable political storm” at the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC).
Thus, his early “retreat” caused lots of “weird speculations”.
CONTENTION NO. 2
‘Everything that Mayor Albee needs is already in place’
Is that so?
Of course, no one believes that in just two months, Diaz could do “magical” things in the city.
Ever since, BCGC is a controversy-laden entity. Some local political thinkers consider the BCGC “beyond political surgery”.
CONTENTION NO. 3
‘Daw wala naman ko mabulig sa Bacolod’
Gosh! As early as this? Such a declaration spelled lots of postulates.
Perhaps the “eeriest” is the rumored “falling out” of Gov. Bong and Mayor Albee.
Such speculation was bolstered by the non-appearance of Mayor Albee at Gov. Bong’s birthday party at the Capitol Lagoon on Dec. 13, 2022.
Is Diaz a collateral in this?
Noted a Political Science professor in a university in Bacolod, there’s a “wrestling of thoughts” in the three contentions.
“No coherence and unity of contemplation, thus, mind-boggling,” the professor added./PN
