Victorias City Councilor Virginia Adorio said Thursday, April 21, that she will remain with Team Asenso Victoriahanon led by mayoral candidate Javi Benitez.
Adorio, who is seeking reelection, is the mother of Jun Adorio who at a press conference on Wednesday claimed he was ordered to kneel before an angry Benitez and kiss his hand on March 28, and that he fears for his life.
Virginia Adorio, at a press conference Thursday, said her son told her about the incident but she could not say if it actually happened or not.
“I was not there and I do not know of any witness who can that it was true. The witnesses he named are saying it did not happen,” she said.
Asked whom she believes, her son or Benitez, the councilor said how can she say anything when she did not see what happened.
Her son had been called by the people of the mayor because they suspected that he was campaigning for the other side, but he has denied those allegations, the councilor said.
The councilor said when her son first told her his story she was shocked and said she would not stay with the party if that is the way they are treated. As a mother she was hurt, she said.
But her son told her to stay with the party of Benitez.
She said he son did not tell her about his press conference on Wednesday and she has not spoken to him.
The councilor said she could not comment on suspicions that her son is being used by a political group in Bacolod because he has not told her anything.
She just saw a picture of her son with Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the councilor added
Javi Benitez is the son of Bacolod mayoral candidate Alfredo “Albee” Benitez who is running against Leonardia.
The councilor said she has spoken to Benitez and assured him that her loyalty is to Team Asenso Victoriahanon.
Benitez, in a statement issued Wednesday night, called the allegations of Jun Adorio “baseless, false, malicious, and a stretch of his imagination — aiming to besmirch my good reputation and character that I have worked hard to protect. Clearly, this is political”.
There were other people in that meeting who can testify about what actually happened and reveal the truth, Benitez said.*