THE new set of officials of the City Council in Bacolod City is expected to be gender-balanced.Councilor-elect Celia Flor said that of 12 new elected councilors, five are women.These include her, councilor-elect Em Ang and reelected Councilors Cindy Rojas, Simplicia Distrito and Paoline Sy.They will be joined by two other women ex-officio members — Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) President Lady Gles Pallen and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Federation President Ayesha Joy Villaflor.Completing the list are councilors-elect Jude Thaddeus Sayson,Vladimir Gonzalez, Jason Villarosa, Claudio Puentevella, and reelected Councilors Al Espino, Israel Salanga, and Renecito Novero.”Being a gender advocate, it’s good for the city council to have a 50-50 composition of the members,” Flor said in a radio interview.She said that even before when she started their programs on women and politics, they’ve been calling for a 50-50 gender-balanced local and national legislative council.”With this, it doesn’t mean that all of our programs will only concentrate on women, it’s for everybody,” she added.Flor noted that the gender programs and ordinances, she expects will be supported by the women councilors.”Hopefully, there will be no partisanship not only in gender programs but in all city programs. Let’s avoid partisan politics,” Flor said.”I really hope for the council which is deliberative. A council that will discuss all the issues and will vote base on our personal convictions,” she added.