PB dads, mayors join Cebu LP fold

TWO Provincial Board (PB) members and two mayors of Cebu’s second district were sworn into the Liberal Party (LP) fold in Manila yesterday.

In text messages sent to Cebu Daily News, Cebu LP chairman Hilario “Junjun” Davide III said PB members Wilfredo Caminero and Peter John Calderon and Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos and Samboan Mayor Raymund Calderon joined the LP.

Davide said they took their oaths before Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas at his office.

“Their decision came out of a desire to support Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale and me,” he said in a text message.

Davide will run for governor against Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu’s 3rd district while the congressman’s sister and outgoing Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will run for the Senate next year.

Both Calderon and Caminero are relatives of Magpale and the Duranos in the 5th district.

Also witnessing their transfer were Danao City Vice Mayor Ramon Nito Durano III, founder of the Bakud party.

Caminero confirmed his intention to run for congressman in the second district.

He said he is ready to face incumbent Rep. Pablo Garcia of Cebu’s 2nd district if ever the LP picks him as candidate.

Caminero admitted that he was dismayed to learn that the local administration One Cebu party of the Garcias was looking for his replacement as board member even if he can still run for a third term.

“This means that the party no longer needs me”, he said.

Pablo John also voiced his disappointment over Mayor Calderon’s decision to leave One Cebu.

“As far as Mayor Calderon is concerned, I want to confirm. I did not expect that from him. It should have been easy to ask permission. If we part, we have to part with decent people as friends,” he said.

Pablo John said Calderon’s move also disappointed his father, Rep. Pablo Garcia.

“We could have expected more from him. It would be disappointing on the part of my father,” he said.

Pablo John said he understood Galeos’s decision to leave One Cebu since he is Argao mayor where Davide comes from.

Also, Pablo John said PB member Caminero announced that he will support LP. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol and Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Jhunnex Napallacan