The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is assisting the transition teams of the outgoing and incoming administrations in the transfer of power to mayor-elect Alfredo Benitez here on June 30.

As of Wednesday, the final schedule of the DILG’s meeting with both parties has been set for June 22.

Reelected Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya, who heads the transition team of the Benitez administration, said the agency’s local office communicated with them after the incoming mayor requested assistance.

“This is the response of the DILG to the letter of mayor-elect Benitez regarding the transition with the present administration,” he said.

Benitez chose Gasataya to lead the transition team as the lawmaker had previously occupied various posts in the city government, including councilor, vice mayor, and acting mayor.

He is joined by former councilor Caesar Distrito and three incoming key appointees, all lawyers, who will work closely with Benitez.

These include Pacifico Maghari III, who will sit as the city administrator; Joseph Karol Chiu, who will take on the role as the secretary to the mayor; and Romeo Carlos Ting Jr., who has been named the city legal officer.

“Public service for Bacolodnons must not be hampered amid a transition of leadership in Bacolod City. This meeting among the transition teams guarantees the continuity of public service and ensures that all assets are well accounted for upon the transition of the new administration on June 30, 2022,” Benitez said in a letter sent to DILG Bacolod City director Ma. Joy Maredith Madayag on May 30.

Benitez, a businessman and former congressman of Negros Occidental’s third district, obtained 171,893 votes to foil the bid for a third and last term of Mayor Evelio Leonardia, who got 107,447 votes.

On May 20, Leonardia filed a protest before the Commission on Elections central office in Manila, claiming that the results of the May 9 elections are “mysterious and unbelievable”. (PNA)