BACOLOD City – Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella issued a public apology two days after he punched fellow Councilor Dindo Ramos on the face.
Puentevella said his apology was for the people of Bacolod and his colleagues in the city council.
“I am not perfect and like many of us, I have my own flaws,” Puentevella stressed in a press conference he called for yesterday in Barangay Villamonte.
Puentevella, son of former mayor Monico Puentevella, hit Ramos on the face on Sept. 12 inside the session hall at the Bacolod City Government Center.
The city council was on recess at the time.
Prior to that, Puentevella and Ramos engaged in a heated debate regarding an urgent matter the SP has to act on in relation to the city government’s sanitary service contract with the IPM Construction and Development Corp.
The matter was already settled as the city council authorized Mayor Evelio Leonardia to sign the contract for the construction of Cell No. 2 at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Felisa.
Puentevella attacked Ramos after Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran called for a break.
After the assault, Puentevella was reprimanded and excluded from the session.
Puentevella said he “takes full responsibility” over what he did which he “can never be proud of.”
He added that it was a “humbling lesson.”/PN
