By MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City — Sangguniang Panlungsod members here have shared their two cents on Mayor Monico Puentevella’s state of the city address, “Ulat ni Mayor.”
Puentevella on Wednesday delivered his speech at the lobby of the city hall (People’s House).
With 10 as the highest, Councilors Caesar Distrito and Carlos Jose Lopez rated the mayor’s report 6 and 5, respectively.
Councilor Archie Baribar did not give a numerical rating and sought for “more revelations” from the mayor.
Basing from what Puentevella said in his speech, Distrito said he could not see which direction the city is going after two years.
“No direction. We could not see how we could achieve his plans,” he said.
Distrito said one of the mayor’s major plans, for instance — the creation of the Bacolod Development Authority — needs legislative action.
He said the mayor also failed to present any plan for a flagship program in the next two years.
But he commended the mayor for allocating P1 million for scholarships grants for educators and planning to revive the emergency clothing allowance of the teachers.
Lopez, for his part, said most of what Puentevella called his “accomplishments” have already been accomplished by the previous administration.
He said the mayor did not touch on the issue on ukay-ukay (used clothing), which involves his son and executive assistant, Rocky.
Baribar, meanwhile, found Puentevella’s speech wanting.
“I wanted to hear from the mayor more revelations on what [he] discovered when he entered the city hall … That will show the real state of the city,” he said.
He said he understood why the mayor had only done so much.
“First, (Puentevella) entered a highly partisan (city government), embedded with political adversaries, which made his space very small. Secondly, the budget he initially had was very limited, and lastly, the resources of the city had already been tied up,” he said./PN
