Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso is not closing the possibility-that he could be the running mate of Mayor Baba Yap in next year’s election even as he declared that he is open for any other negotiations from among the other political camps.
Veloso broke his silence after City Kagawad Bebiano Inting said Veloso is given some deadline to accept the  invitation to run for vice mayor under the Yap administration. Vice Mayor Veloso was the running mate of then mayoralty bet, now City kagawad Augustinus “Dodong” Gonzaga under the Liberal Party.
“I am flattered to hear that I’m considered a choice in their camp to be Baba’s running mate,” Veloso told The Chronicle yesterday.
However, if Gonzaga makes another try in the mayoralty race, Veloso is surely to be his running mate.
“Everything is fluid as to what will be the next chapter of my political life,” Veloso said.
With the filing of the certificate of candidacies barely four months away, there is no sure contender to run against the first termer Mayor Yap whose performance rating is unprecedented as seen in the latest Bohol Poll survey.
Asked to comment on Yap’s administration, Veloso said he could have wanted a “more transparent” administration citing that for several occasions, he was asked to accommodate “special order of the day” (SOD) during sessions which deprived some  financial matters to be more transparent.
He cited that the tyranny of numbers at the Sanggniang Panlungsod hampers his desire for more transparency in deliberating financial matters. The administration bloc has seven city lawmakers as against four in the minority group.
Identified with the Yap administration are Kagawads Inting, Adam Jala, Jerry Pabe, Jojo Bompat, Pepot Besas, Betty Torralba and Edgar Bompat while in the minority group are Kagawads Gonzaga, Butchie Zamora, Lucelle Lagunay and Dulce Glovasa.
The 54-year old vice mayor started his political life as a city councilor under former Mayor Dan Lim in the 2001 polls. He became the number one kagawad in 2004 and elected vice mayor in 2007 when he was the running mate of then City Mayor Joe Torralba.
Veloso said that per his own monitoring in the field, he has not seen signs that former Mayor Dan Lim will make a political come back in next year’s polls.