TAGUM CITY — PDP-Laban drew more members in Davao del Norte as at least 30,000 were sworn in by Senate President and PDP-Laban national president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III in Tagum City on Friday.
The mass oath-taking ceremony was reportedly the largest political gathering of the PDP-Laban in the home province of House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, secretary general of the party.
Pimentel recalled that at the time Alvarez joined the party, there were only about 20,000 members and this has grown to 300,000 registered members throughout the country and abroad “because of the OFWs”.
Before the mass oath-taking, Pimentel challenged the audience if they were ready to pledge to the “party with an ideology of President Duterte” and it was welcomed with a thunderous “yes”.
An estimated 15,000 participants were inside the gym and many more were outside as they could no longer be accommodated inside the venue.
Alvarez also spoke about the concrete gains of the people under the Duterte administration with the support of the House and the Senate, such as the free college education in state-owned universities, and free irrigation.
He also urged the people to support the administration’s senatorial slate. (Cha Monforte/PNA)
