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[av_heading heading=’ Defensor’s PDP-Laban oath-taking postponed ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – The swearing in of Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. to Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of President Rodrigo Duterte was postponed.
Defensor, sons 3rd District congressman Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. and Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Lorenz Defensor – and local officials of Iloilo’s 3rd District – were supposed to take oath as new ruling party members yesterday before House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the secretary-general of PDP-Laban.
But conflicting schedules made it impossible said the governor.
The oath-taking was initially moved to Dec. 1, said Defensor, but this was eventually scrapped for January 2018.
“Indi maghilisanto ang schedules. Nagpangabay na lang si Speaker nga patapuson na lang ang Paskwa,” said Defensor.
It may finally push through before the Dinagyang Festival on the third week of January, he said.
“Waay ta man na nadalian. Dugay pa eleksyon,” added the governor.
It was Alvarez himself who invited the Defensors to join PDP-Laban in August.
The governor agreed and cited “practical politics” as reason for deciding to leave the Liberal Party.
The political career of his congressman son was a big factor, he admitted.
“I told PDP-Laban my son is interested to become governor. I made the message clear,” said Defensor.
The governor, now in his third term, is barred by law from seeking a fourth consecutive term.
“If Toto (Congressman Defensor) wants to win an election, the administration party can greatly help him. That is practical politics. We don’t have money to buy votes,” said Defensor.
A member of the Liberal Party since 2013, the governor confessed to being uneasy changing political parties.
“But it made me thought, too, of the support, of the big-ticket programs that the national government could extend to Iloilo province and its municipalities,” said Defensor./PN
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