BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – The councilor-mother of a man who had earlier accused Victorias City mayoral bet Javi Benitez of allegedly forcing him to kneel and ask forgiveness has come out here to pledge loyalty to Javi’s party.
The issue has also dragged this city’s mayor, Evelio Leonardia, the rival of Javi’s father, Albee, into the issue after a photo of Leonardia with Pacifico Adorio III circulated on social media.
Pacifico III or “Jun” had earlier claimed in a news conference earlier this week that Javi had invited him to a meeting and allegedly told him to kneel and ask forgiveness after Adorio “liked” a post of a person who is known to be a supporter of Grupo Progreso, the rival party to Javi’s father here.
Adorio’s claim was quickly denied by Benitez who said through his publicist that a meeting did take place between him and Adorio but that meeting was requested by Adorio who “wanted to apologize because people are doubting his loyalty to the party and our team.”
Javi, however, denied his claim and said: “It was my first time to meet him. Why would I do such a thing? There is no truth to what he is saying.”
He even described the claims as “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. One thing is certain, at the right time, matters like this will be dealt with accordingly at the proper forum,” the younger Benitez said.
The issue took on another interesting twist after Adorio’s mother, Virginia who is running under Javi’s ticket, came out during a news conference yesterday and said she will remain loyal to the Asenso team and has no plans to defect to the rival party in Victorias City nor will she run independently.
Virginia added she has not yet talked to her son after he accused Javi but suspects “a group is using her son.
She did not elaborate.
