9,000 Negros officials to join PDP-Laban
BY EUGENE Y. ADIONG ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2017
BACOLOD CITY: About 9,000 local officials in Negros Occidental are set to join the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban in a mass oath-taking set for October 5 at the Victorias City Coliseum, according to Rep. Alfredo Benitez (3rd District).
Benitez said he has invited House Speaker and PDP-Laban Secretary-General Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, PDP- Laban president, to swear in the new party members.
Earlier, Negros Occidental officials led by Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr. and his partymates in the local United Negros Alliance (UNegA) pledged their allegiance to the party of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Benitez heads the rival Love Negros group and has also pledged loyalty to Duterte’s party.
He said there is an ongoing mass oath-taking of PDP-Laban members all over the country and the activity on October 5 will be part of the party’s recruitment.
Benitez added that controversies among some PDP-Laban officials in Manila have not affected the party, especially in the recruitment of members.
Benitez, who is on his last term as congresssman, has been offered a slot in the ruling party’s senatorial line-up for the 2019 national elections.
He, however, has not yet disclosed whether he will accept the offer to run as senator or run as governor to replace the outgoing Maranon.