LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Paz Radaza and her City Council slate switched political camps and were sworn in as Liberal Party members at the LP headquarters in Quezon City at past 11 a.m. yesterday.
The oath was administered by LP secretary general and Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento. Radaza’s daughter, Lapu-Lapu City Rep. Aileen Radaza, was also sworn into the LP fold.
Mayor Radaza won reelection as a Lakas CMD candidate but supported some LP senatorial bets in the last May polls.
Her daughter Aileen replaced her father Arturo as lone district representative and immediately filed a bill seeking to establish Lapu-Lapu as a separate province.
Radaza’s entry upset Efrain Pelaez, LP district chairman in Lapu-Lapu City who ran against her last May.
“For what reason are they jumping to LP? So that they are protected from their pending corruption cases?” he asked.
He said he filed a protest against Radaza’s entry in the party without the knowledge of Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who is LP’s Cebu provincial chairman. Pelaez said he will continue to function as LP chairman in Lapu-Lapu City./Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza