Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez Jr. yesterday said he is now congressman and so he is running for the same position, not unless he will be convinced by the people to run for mayor, when asked about his plans for 2013.

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

Rumors say that Golez will be running against Mayor Evelio Leonardia if the bill apportioning Bacolod into two districts is not passed before the 2013 elections.

Sources said that Leonardia, who is serving his last term as mayor of Bacolod, will run for congressman in 2013, with Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson running for mayor.

Golez, Leonardia and Sayson, all members of the Nationalist People's Coalition, ran under the Grupo Progreso in the 2010 elections.

Asked about a photo where Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer (3 rd District, Negros Occidental) was seen raising his hand and that of Leonardia, Golez said that happened after Ferrer saw him talking to Leonardia in one of the hotels in Bacolod.

It was just a chance encounter, he said, since they were not able to talk for a long time, so they had a chance to talk and discuss a lot of things.

Golez said they are supposed to be under one party, but it is up to them (his partymates) if they still consider him part of the group or not.

“But for me, I am not moving, I am still the congressman and if there is someone interested in my position, this is something we can discuss within the party,” he said. If the challenger is from outside the party, he has all the right to challenge him in the elections, he added.

Golez said if there is going to be a moving out from the party, in case 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 said.

If he will run for congressman, he will accept any challenger because he has worked hard for the City of Bacolod, he added.

Meanwhile, Golez thanked Senator Juan Ponce Enrile for his assurance that he will support the bill apportioning Bacolod into two districts if it reaches the Senate.

“It makes a lot of sense that Bacolod has two districts. If it will not push through for this congress, definitely, it will on the 16 th Congress, when the National Statistics Office certification validating that Bacolod City has a population of 500,000, is going to be officially issued,” he said.*CGS

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