• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol executive Lucille Gelvolea has been appointed city administrator of Bacolod City effective Dec. 1, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez announced yesterday.
Gelvolea, outgoing head of the Economic Enterprise Development Department, replaces lawyer Pacifico Maghari III, who had resigned for personal reasons.
Prior to her new position, Gelvolea served as the pro bono consultant for special projects and economics affairs of Benitez at the city government.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson congratulated Gelvolea, who is set to retire from the Capitol, for her new job.
“It is a position that entails a lot of work,” Lacson said.
Benitez said Gelvolea worked with him in the province’s Incident Management Team at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were a lot of working relationships that were established during that time, and I see her capable of the job,” the mayor said.
Lacson said he wishes Gelvolea well.
“It’s not gonna be easy, but if you have your heart and soul to your job, and with the proper cooperation of everyone with the city government, things will be well with the city of Bacolod,” he added.
With Bacolod being a highly-urbanized city, Lacson said “that is not a demotion. That speaks well of you”.
“It’s a new challenge. All eyes are always on Bacolod City. You have to be strong,” Lacson further said, adding that as the EEDD head, Gelvolea “did a very decent job.”
He added that her appointment speaks well of “the quality of people that we have here in the provincial government”. | GB
