Capitol executive Lucille Gelvolea was announced by Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez as the incoming administrator of the Bacolod City government.
Gelvolea, outgoing head of the Economic Enterprise Development Department of the provincial government of Negros Occidental, replaces Atty. Pacifico Maghari III, who resigned for personal reasons on November 1, after almost one year and four months of service.
Prior to her new post, Gelvolea served as a consultant for Special Projects and Economics Affairs of Benitez at the Bacolod City government.
Asked for his reaction on the transfer of Gelvolea from the provincial government to the Bacolod City government, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson congratulated her on her new job. “It is a position that entails a lot of work,” Lacson said.
Benitez said Gelvolea already met with the councilors Monday and with the department heads yesterday. They have already established a working relationship when they were at the provincial government Incident Management Team during 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.
“I have only one advice, that everything she does will have the blessing of the Mayor. So, what I am really looking for is not just an alter ego of the mayor, but someone who will implement and execute everything l order because I’m more of a hands-on mayor,” Benitez added.
Lacson said he wished them 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,” Lacson said.
Asked if Benitez asked his permission to take Gelvolea, Lacson said “if that’s what he really wants, I will not stand in the way.”
With Bacolod as a highly urbanized city, Lacson also said “that is not a demotion. That speaks well of you (her).”
“It’s a new challenge. All eyes are always in Bacolod City. You have to be strong,” Lacson further said, adding that Gelvolea knows it.
Asked how he will assess the performance of Gelvolea as EEDD head, Lacson said “she 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”, stressing also that there are others at the Capitol also capable of accepting jobs like that.
Lacson, however, clarified that he is not saying that other Capitol executives are being pirated to serve the city government.
“There’s no talk of that,” he stressed.
(Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
