Will Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez be appointed Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary?
Talk of Benitez being considered for the job circulated after the announcement that DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos (PFP) will likely run for senator under administration ticket in 2025.
The mayor since the start of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration “had already been offered to be part of the Cabinet, but because of his sworn commitment to Bacolodnons to serve them as mayor until his term ends in 2025, he begged off”, his spokesman Caesar Distrito said on Wednesday, August 28.
“If the news about the soon to be vacant DILG post will be offered to him, for sure Mayor Albee will take into consideration all factors before making a decision. If ever, his decision will be anchored on the basis of what will be best for the City of Bacolod, and the Bacolodnons,” Distrito added.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said “maybe that’s possible I don’t have inside information about that.”
Lacson said “that’s possible because Secretary Abalos I think is bent on running for the Senate…If he files for the position of senator he has to resign from his present executive position”.
JAVI’S RUN
Meanwhile, the decision on whether Victorias Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez will run for representative of the 3rd District of Negros Occidental will have to come from him, Lacson said.
He is the logical choice and his father Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez and uncle Secretary Francisco Benitez, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general, have endorsed him, the governor said.
“He definitely is competent for the job, I know he can handle that but I am of the impression that he’s more comfortable with an executive position,” Lacson said.*