ILOILO CITY — Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. will be among the 4,000 officials from the third district of Iloilo who will take their oath as new members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) on January 18.
The governor, in his regular press conference on Thursday, said PDP-Laban secretary-general and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez will administer their oath-taking.
Defensor said he will be joined by his sons — 3rd district Rep. Arthur Defensor Sr. and Board Member Lorenz Defensor. Other local officials include the mayors, vice mayors, councilors, barangay captains and council members in the third district.
He said Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones is still indecisive whether or not to join the party. Malones earlier explained that his plan to quit from his political career hampers him to join the party.
After the oath-taking ceremony, Defensor said representatives from the speaker’s bureau will conduct a lecture on federalism.
Alvarez invited the Defensors to join the ruling party last August 13 when he administered the mass oath-taking of new PDP-Laban members in Iloilo and Guimaras at the Iloilo Convention Center.
It was August 31 when Defensor decided to transfer to the ruling party after being with the Liberal Party since 2013.
The governor was supposed to take his oath last November 23 but was moved to December 1; both were postponed due to a conflict in the schedule of Alvarez.
Defensor earlier said that shifting to PDP-Laban would be a big help in the delivery, approval and implementation of big ticket programs.
Among the proposed big ticket projects here are the PHP11.2-billion Jalaur River Multipurpose Porject (JRMP) II, the improvement of the Iloilo International Airport and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Bridge.
Last September 2017, Alvarez also administered the oath taking of the more or less 4,000 local officials in the first district of the province to the PDP-Laban. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
