Will a new seating arrangement solve it?

Bacolod Councilors Carlos Jose Lopez and Claudio Puentevella, who nearly engaged in a fist-fight during the regular session of the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod on November 6 over the liquidation report required of the Kasadya Bacolod Foundation Inc. that ran the 2014 MassKara Festival, have been assigned different seats at the SP session hall.

Vice Mayor Greg Gasataya said yesterday that he has separated Lopez and Puentevella, who used to be seated beside each other at the SP session hall, starting yesterday, by placing Councilors Em Ang and Archie Baribar between them.

Lopez switched places with Ang and Puentevella with Baribar.

Gasataya said the new seating arrangement was implemented starting yesterday.

He said he was able to talk to Lopez and Puentevella and requested that cooler heads should prevail in order not to disturb the passage of resolutions and ordinances during their sessions.

“As presiding officer and vice mayor, I want to instill in them mutual respect, and also requested them to avoid unnecessary remarks or comments while the session is proceeding because this is where provocations usually start,” Gasataya said.

He said he was able to get their commitment after this.

Gasataya said they will sit down again and discuss what else should be done so these things will not happen again.

Meanwhile, Baribar denied the claims of Lopez that he bullied the latter in several instances at the City Council.

“Preposterous! How can a commoner like Archie Baribar bully a member of the elite and illustrious Valderrama-Lopez clan?” He asked.

When a bully meets somebody whom he cannot bully, it is the bully who experiences the feeling of being bullied, Baribar said.

“In the discharge of my duties and responsibilities as majority floor leader, I sometimes have to regulate matters presented to the Council and I also have to rein in fellow councilors who might have been carried away by their passions during the discussions. If, in doing so, I engendered in Lopez the feeling of being bullied, I regret his reaction which is very far from my intention,” he said.

Lopez, had said earlier that he is the one being bullied in the City Council and not the other way around, in his reaction to the statement of Puentevella that “he stood up in defense of the City Council who has long suffered from the bullying acts of Lopez.”

He said this isthe thirdtimePuentevella has challenged him toa fist- fight. One of which was onthe resolution that hesponsored requestingKasadyaFoundation headed by his brother, and executive assistant of the Mayor, RockyPuentevella,tobe invited to theCouncil to shed light on theflea market, or“ukay-ukay”issue. This was not accepted or calendared by Baribar, Lopez said.

Baribar said the tenor of the subject resolution sponsored by Lopez was accusatory and conclusive. Thus, it was outside the ambit of normal legislative proceedings and thus was not calendared, he said.

As to the other claim of Lopez that he was initially not allowed to speak and was given a very limited time to do so during the public hearing on the real property tax issue, Baribar said there was a prior agreement among councilors that all of them will not speak. Instead the councilors will give the public all the opportunities to air their sentiments in the forum. In fact, only Lopez, was allowed to speak, he said.

“In the previous administration, the tax measure was handled by the Finance Committee chaired by Councilor Al Victor Espino. We simply followed that precedent,” Baribar said, on the contention of Lopez that, as chair of the ways and means committee, he should have handled the real property tax measure instead of Finance Committee Chairman Councilor Claudio Puentevella.

Baribar also said that, as floor leader and the most senior member of the council, he is saddened by the way that discussions turned out. “In behalf of all well-meaning members of council, our constituents deserve our apologies and resolve to be more statesman-like in the future”, he said.*CGS

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