Grupo Progreso spokesperson and aspirant for councilor, Dr. Chris Sorongon yesterday responded to allusions made by former 3rd District Rep. Albee Benitez, who called on Granada residents to elect leaders that show them respect and sincerity and treat constituents as real “bosses”.
“We totally agree with that. Respect and sincerity. We need that from our leaders. But the bigger questions that should be responded to are: Are we showing the people of Bacolod respect if we hurl invectives or utter foul language, such as ‘Yx#a’ and the likes, during rallies? Are you showing the security guards at the entrance doors of city hall respect that they deserve when you insisted not to present your BacTrac ID upon entry when you visited someone? Did you show respect when you and some members of your slate entered the NGC early this year by not following established health protocols?” Sorongon, who is also deputy director of the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force Against COVID-19 asked.
Benitez, at a recent caucus of his team in Barangay Granada, further asked those in attendance if they are being attended to accordingly by city government employees or if they are being accorded the courtesies by the NGC guards when visiting the city hall.
Sorongon replied that as a policy, all constituents are treated equally and taken care of regardless of their political color.
He cited the LGU’s successful vaccination program that earned for Bacolod the No. 1 spot as best performing LGU in Western Visayas according to the Department of Health.
As of this writing, Bacolod reached a 130 percent vaccination rate with about 600,000 residents across all ages that are already fully-inoculated, EOC-TF and DOH records show.
“I will guarantee Mr. Benitez that many Putians have been fully inoculated by the EOC and the COVaC. Many residents coming from barangays that you are claiming are also recipients of our social services programs including financial help from the BING office. This is simply because our Mayor Bing (Leonardia) is the father of Bacolod City, not just of the members of Team Pulahan,” Sorongon said.
As to the black propaganda being spread by your camp that residents were released expired canned goods and old rice stocks, the items had been replaced with new ones.
Pacit Tero, city DSSD head, reported that as of December 2021, Bacolod has distributed a total of 160,000 food packs.
The city government also served a total of 16,000 people confined at the different quarantine facilities, she added.
Citing also the DSSD records, Sorongon said that 98,143 households received assistance for the first tranche of the Social Amelioration Program under Bayanihan 1 and 2.
Some 96,163 more recipients benefitted when the second tranche was released, Sorongon added.*
