Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson yesterday said they are giving other incumbent councilors who want to join their team, the Grupo Progreso, until Friday to decide, since the filing of certificates of candidacy will start next week.

Sayson, city chairman of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, said he has signified to the councilors that if ever they have yet to make a decision, they have to do it before Friday because they also have to fill up their slate before the filing of COC’s next week.

He said they will file their COCs before October 5.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the party’s district chairman, said they have been talking with the four councilors, referring to Councilors Archie Baribar, El Cid Familiaran, Elmer Sy and Sonya Verdeflor, and are seriously considering them, but they have to finalize their slate these days, he said.

He pointed out that those in their line-up should definitely be endorsing or supporting their candidates for congressman, mayor and vice mayor, he added.

Baribar, Familiaran, Sy and Verdeflor, who were recently sworn in as members of the Liberal Party, have declared that they might run as independent candidates for the 2013 elections.

Neg. Occ., 3rd District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez, who is Liberal Party provincial chairman, said Bacolod is a free zone as of now.

Sayson said they are also expecting the NPC national officials to endorse the official candidate for vice mayor of Bacolod City not later than today.

They submitted to the NPC officials on Saturday the list of nine probable candidates for vice mayor, for their evaluation, he said.

They heard that the NPC officials met on the matter yesterday and they expect to officially receive the endorsement today, since they were told it will not be later than Tuesday, Sayson said.

Meanwhile, Leonardia thanked the NPC national hierarchy for the endorsement they got from them by being named the official candidates of the NPC in the 2013 elections.

Rep. Henry Cojuangco (Tarlac, 1st District), the brother of NPC chairman emeritus Eduardo Cojuangco, said that Leonardia and Sayson are their official candidates for congressman and mayor of Bacolod, respectively.

Leonardia said “After the endorsement of the 51 barangay captains and 58 Sangguniang Kabataan chairmen, who expressed their trust and confidence in me, and after the Vice Mayor and all the NPC incumbent and former councilors, likewise endorsed me, I think our national hierarchy thought it would be for the best interest of the party to give it to the one who deserves it the most,” he said.

Leonardia clarified that they never attempted to expel or make any move against the incumbent congressman, Bacolod Rep. Anthony Golez.

“It was more of a positive move from them to make me the official candidate of the NPC. If he did not get the endorsement of the NPC, it was his own fault because of his weird and childish behavior as an NPC member, so no NPC member had endorsed him at all,” he said. “How can one be endorsed if he is doing acts inimical to the party?” he asked.

Leonardia said a very reliable source in Malacañang told him that Golez is trying to have him suspended. On September 5, he tried to approach people in Malacañang. Maybe it is his habit, or nature of spreading misinformation, because he thought he is still the spokesman of former President Arroyo, he said.

Golez had denied the allegations.

On the claims of Golez that the mayor has 93 cases in the Ombudsman, Leonardia said “Maybe he was talking of all the cases filed against me but he did not mention that all were dismissed.”

Even statistics will show, that almost all cases that are filed with the Ombudsman are forms of harassment. And a very small percentage of these go up to the Sandigan because they are just harassment cases, he said.

Leonardia said all the cases filed were dismissed because the accusations against them had no basis. Recently, a case involving the MassKara Festival funds was also dismissed. The Ombudsman ruled that there was nothing illegal about it.

The cases filed against them are not an indication of any wrongdoing, but an indication of the kind of people his political opponents are, Leonardia said. But all these cases were dismissed and did not even touch first base, he added.*CGS.

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