Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the loan of the city is much less by now than the P1.4 billion being claimed by the group of mayoralty candidate Monico Puentevella.

Puentevella claimed that should their group win the elections, they will inherit a P1.4 billion loan from the present administration.

Leonardia said other local government units, even in Negros, have loans bigger than those of Bacolod.

He said, an LGU can only borrow as much as what is allowed by law, and the last time Bacolod availed of a loan, the Department of Finance even informed them that Bacolod is qualified to borrow as much as P890 million. And yet they only got P250 million, he said.

Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said the loan availed of by the city has a diminishing balance, which means that the balance and computation of the interest reduces every time they make payments.

He said they availed of P400 million for the government center which they have been paying in the last two to three years, P250 million for the relocation site, and P40 million for the dumpsite, or a total of about P690 million.

Sayson said they have been paying for those loans and their outstanding balance could only be between P500 to P600 million by now.

So it is a lie, and an exaggeration for Puentevella to claim that the city has a balance of P1.4 billion, he said, adding it may be because his computation is all wrong.

Sayson also noted that Puentevella is now saying he will hold office at the government center if he wins.

But he recalled that, during the last elections, Puentevella said he will never hold office there, so that is mental dishonesty, he said.

Sayson said he and his group are just working to continue the gains of Bacolod established by the present administration dominated by the Grupo Progreso of which he has been a part for so many years.

“Through the leadership of the Mayor, we have seen how Bacolod is progressing,” he said. Putting in somebody new will have a negative effect as it will disrupt the momentum of the progress of one of the topnotch cities in the country, he added.

Sayson also said they are still negotiating with the businessmen in Bacolod as far as the New Tax Code is concerned, in reaction to the statement of Puentevella that they will review and repeal the Code if ever they will be elected.

He said the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry headed by Frank Carbon has set a tentative meeting with the city on October 17.

“We are still negotiating with our business partners for possible amendments of the New Tax Code,” Sayson added.

Meanwhile, Councilors Caesar Distrito and Carl Lopez, together with Migs Estrella of the Nacionalista Party said they have decided to continue their partnership with the Nationalist People’s Coalition under the local political group, Grupo Progreso, for the 2013 elections.

During a recent meeting in Bacolod , the NP national officials authorized the local NP leadership to join and partner with any political group, especially because NP, NPC and the Liberal Party also have a partnerships in the national level.*CGS

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