Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez yesterday slammed the scheduled disaster risk reduction summit in Bacolod offered by Sen. Aquino Pimentel as a “waste of money” and said what the city government should address is the garbage problem that is a potential trigger for disaster.

Golez was reacting to the announcement that Pimentel had committed to Mayor Evelio Leonardia the holding of a Disaster Risk Reduction Management Summit for Western Visayas in Bacolod City.

Pimentel had said the summit is geared toward enhancing the disaster response capability of Region 6, in the light of recent flooding in other parts of the country.

Golez said “Bacolod City does not need a summit, what it needs is a waste management protocol, a dirty city will not make the city a winner of a clean and green contest, and a top destination of tourists and investors, but will pose a danger to its residents.”

He said garbage will clog drainage systems that will trigger flooding and a public health problem, citing the danger of cholera, diarrhea and leptospirosis.

Leonardia, however, said the city government is already acting on the garbage problem that had cropped up recently and collection is underway.

PIMENTEL OFFERED

“The risk reduction summit for Western Visayas was voluntarily proposed by Senator Pimentel to be held in Bacolod, and I welcomed and accepted that the city plays host to it”, the mayor said.

Leonardia also said he did not ask for the summit and he believes Senator Pimentel, who is spending for it, knows what he is doing.

“If Congressman Golez says it is a waste of money, then I strongly suggest that he deals with Senator Koko directly, and tell him that he is wasting his money. After all, he appears to have extraordinary links to Senator Koko,” Leonardia said.

“The Bacolod garbage problem was temporary and the situation is almost normal now. But it would be nice, and Bacoleños would welcome it, if Golez would give solutions instead of just complaining,” the mayor added.

Golez said he has ensured that Bacolod has the equipment and the response capability to disasters that are now already in place.

A summit is not needed, actual prevention of potential causes of disaster is what is needed now, he said. Rain will scatter garbage and spread public health diseases, with the poor being the most vulnerable, he also said.

Good money should be spent for a better purpose, he said.

WHOSE P25 MILLION?

He said Pimentel was earlier expected to place P25 million in Bacolod for the improvement of the Bacolod City National High School gym and for the “jam steps” program of his wife, Jewel Mae Lobaton, to promote a healthy lifestyle.

But Pimentel, in a press release from the Senate, denied having said anything about giving P25 million to the BCNHS gym.

Golez said that on February 12 there will be a gathering of 100,000 children at the old Bacolod airport doing the “jam steps” to promote a healthy lifestyle and try to make it to the Guinness World Book of Records.

It is also aimed at raising funds for a Bacolod City Disaster Preparedness and Relief Center, he added.

Part of the P25 million he expected from Pimentel was aimed for that project, Golez said.

At the launching of her “Ako Para sa Batang Pinoy Movement” at the BCNHS in Bacolod in October last year with Golez, Pimentel's wife had announced that she would seek   P25 million from her husband's budget in the Senate for the improvement of the BCNHS gym.

Golez said he did not know why Pimentel had denied in a Senate press release committing to the amount. That is something personal between the senator and his wife, and he does not want to meddle in the matter, Golez also said.*CPG

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