We got our chance to sit down, have dinner, and talk with Quezon City Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista last night. I took the initiative in trying to organize the meeting since I felt that it was unfair to only publish Mike Defensor‘s side especially since I’ve been a resident of QC for the longest part of my life. Before we go on, let me just thank Chuck Cabral and Tito Mike Orosa for helping me connect with Herbert. This event wouldn’t have happened without their support.
First Impressions
I literally did not notice Herbert when I went in the room. He was seated on the floor charging his cellphone while he was texting when we came in. It took me two to three glances before i realized that the Vice-Mayor of Quezon City was in the room! He quickly got up and went over and greeted us while shaking our hands. Personally I felt that he was really stressed or burdened that night. There was definitely a gloomy cloud hovering over him. Eventually all the bloggers arrived and Herbert joined us for dinner. We had a Filipino home cooked meal of tilapia, rice, kaldereta, and liempo. After the dinner, we all took our positions and got ready for the session.
Herbert answers Mike’s Allegations
The session heated up pretty quickly since the first topic for discussion was Mike Defensor’s allegations. According to Mike, 30% of QC’s budget went into food and drinks and it was not inspected because Herbert signed a waiver for non-inspection. In his defense, Herbert said that these programs really needed to be procured via emergency because it takes so long to do it the normal way. The food and drinks budget was also allocated for all the training and seminar sessions that the office of the Vice-Mayor and not just for simple feeding programs. With regards to the waiver for inspection, he shares that it’s also part of the justification.
Here’s the video interview which Blog Watch uploaded:
In the interest of fairness, I’ll leave it to you guys to figure out who to support.
With regards to his plans for Quezon City, Herbert says that he will allocate more funds to social services and development. Unlike Mike, he’s not promising anything big and says that as a politician, he can promise a lot. But as an administrator, he can’t because he knows what can be done and what can’t be done given the budget and the population of QC.
Herbert Bautista has a lot of experience, being in local government for over a decade. He’s been a councilor, a Vice-Mayor, and he practically grew up serving Quezon City. Other than his record, Herbert strikes me as a person who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s very “human” and he’s actually one of the most approachable politicians/celebrities I’ve ever met. However, that’s both and advantage and a disadvantage.
My suggestion for Bistek is that he needs to hire really good marketing/pr professionals to help him with his campaign. They have to iron out the message that they want to communicate to the voters and they need to properly handle the case being filed against them by Mike because it’s damaging.
Thanks again to Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista for accepting our request for a blogger session. Thank you and good luck with the upcoming elections!
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I believe that QC needs Herbert Bautista; however, I do agree that he needs to hire better PR people. The one thing I can say about him is that…he is a better choice for me. I did not graduate from an exclusive school. Ako po ay mahirap lamang, pero sa konsensya ko ay hindi ko pwedeng maboto ang isang taong katulad ni GMA. Mike Defensor…mawalang galang po sa inyo dahil ikaw ay wala ring galang sa Pilipinas.