Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said the claim of Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella of involvement in the flyover projects for Bacolod City does not surprise him since that is consistent with the solon's behavioral pattern.

Leonardia pointed out that since 2004, and even until the election period, he had never heard the solon mention anything about it, and he had done so only now that it is about to be started.

Puentevella had said he is happy about the cooperation of the city government in the implementation of the flyover project. He also told the media that the project was presented to the President when they were in London last year and that he was able to discuss it with the contractors. But City Administrator Roger Balo said that nowhere in the chronology of events, from Sept. 23, 2004 up to the present, was there any note of involvement of the Congressional Office in the flyover project. He recalled that, as early as Sept. 23, 2004, representatives from Mabey and Johnson, a contracting company for the flyover projects under the President's Bridge Program had already conducted a preliminary site visit to Bacolod.

Balo also said the group, together with Woodfields Consultant representatives also visited the Office of the Mayor in Dec. 18, 2006 to ask for assistance in conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment on the flyover locations. Balo said the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a unanimous resolution on Dec. 21, 2006 endorsing the approval of the flyover projects in Bacolod City.

He said engineers John Veron of Mabey and Johnson and Rolando Asis of the DPWH VI confirmed that the project in Bacolod will be started as soon as the flyover in Iloilo is already finished. Meanwhile, the SP yesterday passed a resolution inquiring from the City Administrator about the status of the slaughterhouse in Barangay Handumanan with reference to the memorandum of agreement entered into between the city and the contractor.

Authored by Councilor Alex Paglumotan, the resolution said the MOA executed between the city and AVM Bernardo, approved and ratified by the SP on Feb. 8, 2007, provides for the completion and operation of the P54-million Bacolod City Slaughterhouse.

Balo said he has written a follow up letter to AVM Bernardo in July and the contractor had informed him yesterday that they are preparing their equipment and will be in the city on Saturday to ensure the security of the facility."*CGS

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