Local News: Golez, Leonardia Deny ‘Political Agreement’

Both Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia and Cong. Dr. Anthony Golez denied having agreed on political matters. Leonardia and Golez have made the clarification in reaction to a photograph taken by NDB photo Journalist Jun de los Reyes on the birthday bash of Jerry Sy. 4th District Cong. Jeffrey Ferrer was shown raising the hands of the Mayor and the Bacolod solon.

Leonardia said it so happened that he attended the birthday party at the hotel where Congressmen Ferrer and Golez were also there. Golez and Leonardia talked privately. When Cong. Ferrer saw them, he thought they were agreeing on something, so he stood in between and raised the hands of Leonardia and Golez, which was immediately caught by the lens of media reporters.

Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez Jr. said he is now congressman and so he is running for the same position, unless he will be convinced by his constituents to run for mayor. Leonardia said they did not touch politics during the birthday party at the Bacolod Planta Hotel last Saturday.

As a congressman, he will run for Congress if he is to make a decision and would not consider external factors. But, if the people will say that he needs to run for mayor, that is the time he will change his decision, he said.

Regarding the picture with their hands raised by Cong. Ferrer, Golez said it was just a chance encounter since they were not able to talk for a long time, so they talked and discussed something without any political color.

Leonardia is serving his last term as mayor of Bacolod and will be running for congressman in 2013, with Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson as his possible tandem as Bacolod mayor, it was alleged. Golez, Leonardia and Sayson, all members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition ran under the Grupo Progreso in the 2010 elections.

Golez said "We are supposed to be under one party, but it is up to them if they still consider me part of the group or not. But for me I am not moving. I am still the congressman and whoever is interested in my position, this is something they can discuss within the party," he said. If the challenger is from outside the party, he has all the right to challenge the incumbent congressman in the elections, he added.

Golez said if there is going to be a moving out from the party, or if there is a challenger, this will be discussed by the national leadership of the political party.

"If not resolved, it is inevitable. Anything is possible in politics." He also said, "If I will run for congressman, I will face any challenger because I have worked hard for the City of Bacolod," he added.

Leonardia, on the other hand, as chairman of the NPC in Bacolod, said, it is the party that decides who will be the official candidate for vice mayor in the 2013 elections.

Politics is more palatable issue now considering the forthcoming political exercise. But for us, there is nothing final yet. Everything will be decided by the body.*