Duterte swears in new PDP-Laban members

MASS OATHTAKING. No less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines, His Excellency Hon. Rodrigo Roa Duterte himself, flew to Camarines Sur yesterday, October 17, 2017, to lead the Federalism Summit and mass oath taking ceremony of some 6,000 new members of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino and Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) right at the Camarines Sur Convention Center, Capitol Complex, Cadlan, Pili with Camarines Sur Gov. Migz Villafuerte and his father, Cong. LRay Villafuerte both present to warmly welcome the president and his entourage including the Presidential Communications Group that did a live feed coverage of the momentous event in the province. Those who swore in were incumbent regional, provincial, city/municipal, and barangay officials in the province of Camarines Sur. Also present during the occasion were the officers of the Federalismo Alyansa ng Bicol (FAB) and Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC). jmts/rbmjr/mmec101817 with photos from fb_GovMigzVillafuerte

By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---President Duterte officiated the oath taking of some 6,000 new members of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP)-Laban who are former members of the Nacionalista Party in Camarines Sur on Tuesday. Led by Camarines Sur Gov. Miguel “Migz” Luis Villafuerte, the new PDP-Laban members who took their oath at the Camarines Sur Convention Center include 26 mayors, 20 vice mayors, 190 municipal mayors, 700 barangay captains and 5,000 barangay council members. Villafuerte said their decision to join the PDP-Laban show their full support to the present administration because the president does not discriminate in helping the province based on political party. “We have been united in the Nacionslista Party but President Duterte showed his love to Camarines Sur the province. In just a year in office,the present administration has already released P400 million for the right of way for the construction of new airport,” he said. Villafuerte said he had been following up the release of fund during the previous administration but nothing was released. He ssid President Duterte has been very responsive to the needs of Camarines Sur as what he had shown when he immediately visited the province two days after typhoon Nina hit Bicol in December last year. The Camarines Sur governor won the previous two elections (2013 and 2016) and his father first district Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte won the 2016 congressional race under the Nacionalista Party (NP). But the elder Villafuerte said he will remain as the provincial chair of the NP here and establish coalition with the PDP-Laban. He said the occasion is the first oath-taking event of the new members of the PDP-Laban wherein Mr. Duterte officiated. The oath-taking ceremony was preceded by orientation-seminar on federalism which the Duterte administration is pushing to accomplish before 2022. Asst. Secretary Jonathan Malaya, director of Federalism Institute, and USec. Ryan Esteves briefed the participants on federalism. Neil Doroin discussed the effect of federalism while former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. shared the importance of federalism in the Philippines. Davao first district Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, chair of the House committee on appropriation, also came to grace the oath taking of the new members of the PDP-Laban in Camarines Sur. In Camarines Sur, the other PDP-Laban stalwart is first district Rep. Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr. who joined the PDP-Laban two weeks before the 2016 elections from his previous party which is former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Lakas-CMD.