- GILBERT BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said they are ready to extend help to Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez even without a consultancy agreement.
The stint of Diaz, Dr. Mary Ann Maestral, chief of the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, Negros Occidental, and Lucille Gelvolea, head of the Capitol Economic Enterprise Development Department, as Bacolod City government consultants ended Dec. 31.
“I will just be at the beck and call of Mayor Albee Benitez,” Diaz said.
Gelvolea said that “it does not matter if the consultancy agreement will not be renewed.”
“We can still continue helping Mayor Albee in our personal capacity,” she said.
Diaz also said that Maestral will not continue being a consultant of the Bacolod city government.
He pointed out that his personal relationship with Benitez “remains strong”.
“Anything that he needs from me personally and from the provincial government, we will extend to him, with the consent of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer,” Diaz stressed.
Benitez tapped the services of Diaz as consultant for Administrative Matters and Systems Review, Maestral for Health and Hospital Concerns, and Gelvolea for Special Projects and Economic Affairs.
“Our relationship is with the mayor and not with the Bacolod City government,” Diaz said./GB
