5,000 Ecija execs join Duterte party

PALAYAN CITY—As many as 5,000 local officials were formally sworn in as new members of the ruling party PDP-Laban in a mass oath-taking ceremony at the Nueva Ecija Convention Center here.

Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas, mayor of the province’s capital city, hosted the event with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, also the party’s secretary general, presiding over the oath-taking ceremony.

Three of Nueva Ecija’s congresswomen—first district Rep. Estrellita Suansing, second district Rep. Micaela Violago and third district Rep. Rosanna Vergara—joined PDP-Laban.

Orientation seminars

Mayors, vice mayors, councilors and barangay officials from 27 cities and municipalities in the province participated in the oath-taking ceremony and attended basic orientation seminars for new members of PDP-Laban.

Party goal

Rufina Arcega, chair of the party’s education committee, conducted the basic orientation seminar. Other guest speakers included Raul Lambino, administrator of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and CEO and vice president for international affairs of PDP-Laban.

The PDP-Laban in Nueva Ecija is headed by former General Tinio Mayor Virgilio Bote, who concurrently serves as PDP-Laban vice president for Luzon and party provincial president.

Bote said the party’s goal was to strengthen the membership of the PDP-Laban and push for all the programs of President Duterte in Nueva Ecija.

In his speech, Alvarez asked if anyone among the new members was a drug addict. He said the party mechanism prevented any politician with links to illegal drugs from joining the PDP-Laban.

Drug list

The Speaker said he was furnished the same drug list submitted to the President, so the party could check whether any of the new members had drug connections.

Alvarez said the Nueva Ecija contingent was one of the biggest groups ever to join the party. —ARMAND GALANG