More politicians have jumped ship to the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has sworn in Quezon City councilors as new members of the PDP-Laban.
These include councilors Victor Ferrer Jr., Voltaire Liban III and Mara Suntay of the Liberal Party; Eufemio Lagumbay and Don de Leon of the Nacionalista Party, Kate Coseteng of the Nationalist People’s Coalition; and Anthony Peter Crisologo of the United Nationalist Alliance.
“My shift of political party should not come as a surprise since my father (Rep. Vincent Crisologo) has been with PDP-Laban since July last year,” Crisologo said.
Earlier, Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte also bolted the Liberal Party to join the PDP-Laban.
At least five members of the Liberal Party at the House of Representatives – Lanao del Sur Rep. Ansaruddin Adiong, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo and Rep. Alfred Vargas, North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco and Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman – also transferred parties to show their support to Duterte.
“I want the President to succeed. His success is the success of the entire country. His failure is the failure of the entire country,” Roman said in explaining her decision to leave the LP.
LP president Senator Francis Pangilinan admitted that the attraction and the benefits of being in the good graces of the President may have been too hard to resist for some erstwhile party members.