Recently the newly elected mayor of Bacolod City, Alfredo Beneitz, and a handful of his newly elected political party mates went on a trip to Japan. It is highly likely this trip would have flown under the radar had not the Mayor and several others tested positive for COVID upon returning home.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2022/11/11/bacolod-solon-2-councilors-on-trip-to-japan-with-mayor-catch-covid/ |
Three local officials were among 10 persons who traveled to Japan with Mayor Alfredo Abelardo ‘’Albee’’ Benitez and tested positive for Covid-19.
This was confirmed on Thursday, Nov. 10, by former Councilor Caesar Distrito, legal counsel of Team Asenso, the political party of Benitez.
Their results came out three days after Benitez announced last Monday, Nov. 7, that he tested positive for Covid-19 upon his arrival in Manila from an official leave in Japan.
He has mild symptoms and is working from home.
Distrito, in a statement, said that the three local officials were Rep. Greg Gasataya and Councilors Simple Distrito and Jude Thaddeus Sayson.
Upon arrival, all of them immediately took a swab test and isolated themselves.
Distrito, who also joined the trip, said that all of those who tested positive were in good condition and mostly asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms. They are all in isolation, he added.
He said that those who tested negative opted for voluntary isolation.
Distrito assured that all of them were fully vaccinated, and will comply with the protocol of seven-day isolation, as they continue to work at home.
In fact, he said that all of them attended their regular session virtually.
At first glance this is nothing to care about. We all know the experimental COVID vaccines don't prevent infection which means all those who advocate for them are fools so that is nothing new and politicians go on junkets all the time at the public's expense. But that seems to not be the case here. According to Caesar Distrito, the attorney for Albee's political party, Team Asenso, and a man who the Supreme Court disallowed to take the lawyer's oath because of unethical conduct calling him "unfit to become a member of the bar", the entire trip was funded by the mayor himself.
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| https://www.facebook.com/councilorcaesar.distrito/posts/5611424235644051 |
For the record, all of them were on official leave, and that no single centavo was spent from government funds. This is a sponsored trip, and all the expenses were shouldered by Mayor Albee.
That is an incredible statement. The Mayor of Bacolod City shouldered ALL the expenses on this trip to Japan? That would include airfare, room and board, and possibly entrance fees to Universal Studios for about 30 people. That is quite a lot of money. Likely a few hundred thousand pesos. But if he alone shouldered all the expenses why does Councilor Wowie Orola thank Congressman Greg Gasataya?
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| https://www.facebook.com/jmorola/posts/10226477872590956 |
Streets of Japan
#WithAsensoBacolodFamily#ThankYouMayorAlbeeAndCongGasataya
Karl Mango, a barangay chairman who attended the trip, also thanked Congressman Greg Gasataya.
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| https://www.facebook.com/karljohn.magno.1/posts/843051640065413 |
Thank you Team Asenso Mayor Congressman Greg Gasataya Albee Benitez
Likewise JR Alcantra also thanks Congressman Greg Gasataya even going so far as to call him "boss."
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| https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=171478142150607&id=100078652669878 |
1st day in OsakaThank you Boss Mayor Albee BenitezThank you Boss Cong. Greg Gasataya
Looks both he and Rodney C. Carmona forgot that the people who elected them are the boss and not the Mayor and local Congressional Representative.
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| https://www.facebook.com/rodney.c.carmona/posts/10160686742675097 |
My first day in Osaka!!!
Thank u boss!!!
What role did Congressman Gasataya play in making this trip to Japan happen? In his official statement Team Asenso Attorney Caesar Distrito is not merely silent on the matter but denies that is the case when he claims the Mayor shouldered all expenses. Note that Wowie Orola hashtaged he was with the Asenso Bacolod Family. That is the newly elected political party in Bacolod City. This trip was apparently only for newly elected Team Asenso members.
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| https://www.facebook.com/councilorcaesar.distrito/posts/5602169529902855 |
We were welcomed at the airport by the Vice Consul of the Philippine Consulate in Osaka, Japan, CHARLES LAWRENCE CHING, and volunteered to take the photo of the whole group. The delegation is headed by Mayor Albee Benitez and Congressman Greg Gasataya, with 8 incumbent councilors and Asenso Barangay Captain. This trip is sponsored personally by Mayor Albee.
I have been on plenty of vacations with large groups. Not one time were those groups ever referred to as delegations A delegation is:
a body of delegates or representatives; a deputation.
It is rather odd to be on vacation and refer to your group as a delegation. Who are these people representing? Is this another one of those "working vacations" of which President Marcos is so fond? Why were they met by the Vice Consul of the Philippine Consulate in Osaka, Japan if they are only in Japan for a little R&R?
There is nothing wrong at all with a little R&R. Everybody needs it. But here's the thing. These people were only just elected back in May and invested in office in July. They have only been at work for a mere four months. Is it vacation time already? Of course not. And this is more than just a vacation. This is a reward from Mayor Benetiz for his party winning the 2022 election.
Lending credibility to that thesis is the fact that several members of Team Asenso, including Team spokesman and lawyer Cesar Distrito, were previously allied with Grupo Progresso, the Party of defeated Mayor Bing Leonardia.
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| https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/bacolod-city-bing-leonardia-loses-councilors-albee-benitez-2022/ |
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia has lost three councilors to former Negros Occidental 3rd District representative Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Bantug Benitez, his main rival for the 2022 elections.
At a press conference late Saturday, October 2, former councilor Caesar Distrito announced he had accepted Benitez’s offer to be his running mate. Distrito introduced the 12-person council slate of Benitez, who did not appear at the press conference.
There has been no reaction yet from the Leonardia camp.
Councilors Simple Distrito, the former councilor’s mother, Al Espino, and Bart Orola, all belonged to Leonardia’s Grupo Progreso (GP). Another member of the slate, Pao Sy, is the daughter of the late councilor Elmer Sy, who was also with Leonardia.
Caesar ran in 2016 under Leonardia and bagged the second-highest number of votes, after incumbent Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who was also wooed by the Benitez camp but stayed on with GP.
The other members of the Team Albee councilor slate are: Kalaw Puentevella, Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Homer Bais, Vladimir Gonzalez, Patrick Lacson, Jayson Villarosa, Sonya Verdeflor, and Mark Mayo.
Basically Albee pulled off a political coup by absconding with the disloyal party mates of Bing Leonardia and siphoning votes he would otherwise have received. That also includes Congressman Greg Gasatya who was previously allied with Lenoardia. The treacherous betrayal of Caesar Distrito and the rest sounds like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Now, Team Asenso need to get to work and prove to the people they made the right choice. There is a lot of work to be done in this town.
Is Benetiz aware that under Leonardia Ayala mall was built without adding the proper infrastructure to handle traffic? There are no traffic lights at Ayala Mall which is one of the many problems he should be addressing. There is also the fact that traffic lights are regularly on the fritz which causes vehicles to pile up in Lon queues. But instead of assuring the citizenry of Bacolod the lights will remain on he paid for a trip to Japan which has enabled us to witness this display from the Captain of Barangay Singcang Rosinie Distrito who was accused by CENECO of stealing electricity.
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| https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10230367484836586&set=pcb.10230367489356699 |
And if Benetiz alone paid for this trip out of his own pocket why are several of those who attended thanking Congressman Greg Gasataya? Team Asenso attorney Caesar Distrito, when asked to comment, practically repeated the same talking points as before and did not explain Gasataya's role.
The trip is privately funded, and sponsored by Mayor Albee Benitez for Councilors & Barangay Captains & private citizen like me, who are all members of the Asenso Bacolod. No government funds were spent in this trip. We had exposure trips to various tourism sites and establishments of Osaka & Kyoto, where we had learned a lot of their best practices, and maybe we can replicated here in Bacolod.
That would indicate that the trip was not entirely for R&R and lends credence to my thesis that this trip was a victory celebration for winning the election since only Team Asenso members were invited. If they were all going to learn about best practices then shouldn't every councilor and Barangay Captain who could attend have been invited and not just members of Team Asenso? Why make learning best practices a political issue? Will what they learned be conveyed to those who did not make the trip and are not part of Team Asenso?
This situation is comparable to if Marcos took all the elected Senators he sponsored on a foreign trip to celebrate their victory. The nation would not stand for it. There is too much work to be done and the Philippines has enough holidays already. Hopefully this trip was just an anomaly on the part of Mayor Benetiz and Team Asenso. But let's get real this is the Philippines and we all know what that means especially when Team Asenso is largely composed of disloyal, opportunity seeking, and self-serving politicians.
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