• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
“I will be just at the beck and call of Mayor Albee Benitez,” declared Provincial Administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, whose pro bono consultancy services to the Bacolod City Government ended December 31 last year.
Stressing that even without the consultancy agreement, Diaz said that they are ready to extend help anytime to Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez.
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 on Dec. 31.
For her part, Gelvolea said that “it does not matter of the consultancy agreement will not be renewed.”
“We can still continue with Mayor Albee in our personal capacity,” she stressed.
Diaz also said that Maestral will not continue as a consultant of the Bacolod City government.
He pointed out that his personal relationship with Mayor Benitez “remains strong.”
“Anything that he needs from me personally and from the provincial government, with the consent of Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer, we will extend to him,” Diaz stressed.
Benitez tapped the services of Diaz as a 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.*