Bacolod Lone District Cong. Greg G. Gasataya has highlighted his performance inside and outside Congress and vowed to his constituents on the campaign trail that he would not abandon or put them to shame.
As the first week of the campaign wraps up since March 25, 2022, Gasataya had been busy going around barangays in Bacolod City, usually meeting a lot of beneficiaries, some for the first time.
“Everytime he runs for re-election, he meets more and more of them,” a senior staff of Gasataya said.
Most of these beneficiaries are scholars of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) facilitated by his office or those who availed of medical and direct assistance services.
Gasataya, who is running for a third and final term under Team Asenso bannered by former Cong. Albee Benitez had been relentless in ensuring that services would go directly to the barangays since the COVID 19 pandemic started two years ago.
Among other things, he initiated a food distribution service that started during the Enhanced Community Quarantine level in which his office gave dressed chicken and well-milled, high quality rice to recipients in the barangays, even to dock workers.
Gasataya even broke his silence for the first time amid claims made since last year by his former partymates that he betrayed them.
Speaking during the opening salvo of Team Asenso at the Paglaum Sports Complex, Gasataya sounded once more like the bombastic radio commentator he once was.
“They say I betrayed them,” he said and thundered: “it is they who betrayed me!” drawing cheers and applause from the tens of thousands who attended the event.
He revealed for the first time that even before the period for filing of candidacies started, “they already had someone to run against me.”
Gasataya, however, brushed aside the issue, including claims made by a rival he called “Toto Tuhaw.”
But he did not elaborate, saying “it is not worth our time.”
Gasataya, however, who is running for a third and final term since he first won in the congressional race, had been banking on his legislative performance, infrastructure projects, and direct services to his constituents.
As one of the younger solons to sit in the Lone District seat, Gasataya holds a remarkable record of authoring as principal 196 bills and resolutions and 39 others as co-author.
What is more remarkable is the quality of his legislation, still built on the forward-looking, system-strengthening philosophy for which Gasataya is known for since he was a councilor.
Among his measures and projects that showcase his foresight are the historic law providing for the construction and funding of the Bacolod City General Hospital, the bill seeking the putting up of a Bacolod Economic Zone Authority, and the building of the close to 50-kilometer Bacolod-Negros Occidental Economic H8ghway that starts from Sum-ag village in Bacolod and exits to the national highway in Victorias City.
It is expected to provide a new growth area in Bacolod and neighboring areas.
