Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez denied snubbing Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran during the turnover of the Pambansang Pabahay Para Sa Pilipino (4PH) housing units in Barangay Vista Alegre, Bacolod City, his spokesman said on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Barangay Captain Caesar Distrito, the mayor’s spokesman, issued the clarification amid allegations that Familiaran was not invited to the event on Saturday.
The invitation is usually sent to Famillaran’s technical assistant through her Facebook messenger, he said.
“As in the previous occasions, especially those being done with short preparation like this one, a message of invitation and layout card of the event was sent through messenger to the account of his TA, Gaye Marie Tiu,” Distrito said.
The mayor specifically instructed his staff that in official events all incumbent city officials should be invited, whether partymates or not as he is not keen on petty politics, Distrito said.
Familiaran said he replied that he was not invited when he was asked by a reporter on Monday why he was not at the housing event.
A formal invitation was not received by his office, he said.
All invitations are usually sent in hard copy form, Familiaran said.
The invitation via messenger was was sent to his technical assistant at 6:32 a.m. on the day of the event and since it was a Saturday she was out of town and did not see the message, he said.
“It is really no big deal…it is no problem, I understand,” Familiaran said.*