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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Tuesday. September 19, 2017
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ILOILO – They remain friends.
This was how Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. described his relationship with defeated Liberal Party (LP) presidential standard-bearer Mar Roxas despite the provincial chief executive’s impending transfer to the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Nakigkita ako kay Secretary Mar to say my goodbyes to the Liberal Party. Nalipay lang ako nga gin- athag gid sa akon ni Secretary Mar nga naintindihan n’ya ang rason,” said Defensor.
Defensor and son, Cong. Arthur Defensor Jr. (3rd District), will soon be taking their oaths as PDP-Laban members.
According to the governor, Roxas assured him that his transfer to the ruling party won’t, in anyway way, affect their longstanding friendship and personal relation as friends.
“We shall continue to be allies in just and honorable causes,” said Defensor.
The governor cited “practical politics” in deciding to leave Liberal Party.
“I’d be a hypocrite if I say my decision has nothing to do with politics. I told PDP-Laban my son is interested to become governor. I made the message clear but up to that point lang,” said Defensor.
During a visit to Iloilo City on Aug. 13, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez urged the Defensors to join PDP-Laban.
“If Toto wants to win an election, the administration party can greatly help him. That is practical politics. That is the reality of politics. We don’t have the money to buy votes,” explained the candid Defensor.
A member of the Liberal Party since 2013, the governor confessed to being uneasy changing political parties.
“I am not used to shifting from one party to other. But I have been sent several emissaries asking me to transfer. And 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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