(Eagle News) — Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Sunday, March 12, said that his political party had grown three times its size.
Pimentel made the pronouncement as he led the oath-taking of the new Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN) members during the celebration of its 35th anniversary at the Philippine International Convention Center.
Among those who were sworn in were Cabinet members, congressmen, governors and mayors including former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos and his son, former Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos.
“Yung mga politiko na gustong sumama sa partido PDP-Laban. Let this be a reminder and at the same time an appeal, sumama po kayo sa PDP-Laban dahil sa programa de gobyerno ng aming partido,” he said.
“Hindi tayo sumasama because of personalities,” he noted.
He said that for 35 years, the party had survived because of ideology.
“At kahit iwanan tayo ng mga named politician, what do we produce? We produced the President of the Republic of the Philippines,” he added, to loud applause from his party mates, including President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to Pimentel,PDP-Laban was leading the effort to change the country’s system of government into a federal one.
He said the party was also preparing for the 2019 mid-term elections, and was in fact scouting for individuals who are willing to be part of the PDP-Laban’s senatorial slate.
“All hands on deck. Kailangan po ng tulong ng lahat ng kapartido, tumulong po tayo. We are going to be very busy…,” Pimentel said.
The PDP was founded by former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. , Pimentel’s father, in February 1982, and merged with the LABAN party a year later, on February 6, 1983.
Eagle News Service
