Cordillera politicians join majority party PDP-Laban

SAGADA, Mountain Province – Political leaders from the Cordillera region took their oath as members of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) last Saturday after attending a day-long Basic Membership Seminar at the Saint Joseph Rest House and Restaurant here.

Led by Mountain Province Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr. and Ifugao governor Pedro Mayam-o, the new recruits took their oath before Rufina Arcega, chairperson of the party’s education committee.

Former Kalinga board member and interim regional party chairman Alonso Saclag, Jr. was also on hand to witness the ceremonies.

Arcega said that Lacwasan and Mayam-o are the first two governors in the country to join the ruling party which catapulted Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency. 

“You can readily claim the honor of being the first two governors to join the party after the elections,”   Arcega said.

Running as independents in the last political exercise, the two governors volunteered to bind themselves to the tenets and principles of the party and work with the national leadership for the realization of the present administration’s priority programs.

“It is indeed an honor to be a member of a political party which gives premium to setting an environment of peace that would usher in unhampered economic growth for the country,” Lacwasan said when asked for a remark.

Participants were likewise briefed on the advantages of federalism as a political means to attain lasting peace and as an economic tool to help uplift the economy of the poor regions.

Aside from Lacwasan and Mayam-o, among those who affirmed their party membership were former Ifugao governor Eugene Balitang, Mountain Province vice governor Francis Tauli, Pasil (Kalinga) mayor John Dulawen Ya-o, board member Johnny Waguis of Benguet, former Mountain Province board members Winston Calde and Randolph Awisan, Sagada vice mayor Benjamin Capuyan, Buguias (Benguet) councillors Ronald Kimakim and Attorney Palasi, and Bontoc councillor Alexandre Claver.

Sagada mayor James Pooten who welcomed the participants said that he has yet to file his membership application. -- ABB