The daughter of the late councilor Elmer Sy Thursday, November 11, cried foul over the alleged “dirty tactics” of some Grupo Progreso officials in endorsing the appointment of one of the GP candidates to fill the seat vacated by her father in the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
Psyche Marie “Pao” Sy, who is running for Bacolod councilor, said the endorsement made by some GP officials of their councilor candidate Marlon Solidum to be the Nationalist People’s Coalition replacement of her father in the SP “was made clearly to circumvent our Election Laws and other existing laws because the signatories had, after signing, signified their candidacy and took their oath under the Nacionalista Party.”
Her father was a NPC coalition stalwart in Bacolod, she said in a press release.
She said several GP members held a meeting and preempted NPC Bacolod chairperson Rep. Greg Gasataya’s action by disseminating to local news outlets that Solidum had been endorsed and was merely waiting appointment to the seat vacated by her father.
Early this year her father had been meaning to endorse her to replace him in his NPC post due to his deteriorating condition, she said. The pandemic limited their movements but an application of intent had been formally submitted to Gasataya, she said.
“My father’s mantra was inculcated in my mind since I was a child when he started in politics. I had seen how he personally attended to the needs of every constituent visiting the office. He also told me, that when he is gone, I should continue the kind of public service that he did,” said Sy, who is a nurse by profession.
Sy is running for councilor under the Asenso ticket of mayoral candidate Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Bantug Benitez.
She has been immersed in the political scene having worked as a technical assistant to her father in the SP, Sy said.*