Samar officials to join ruling party

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 17 -- Majority of local officials in Samar province will join the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party of President Rodrigo Duterte, Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan confirmed on Thursday.

At least 19 out of 24 mayors and all provincial board members in Samar province will move to PDP-Laban. They will take their oath as new party members next week.

Tan said she and her mother, Samar 2nd District Rep. Milagrosa Tan  have earlier joined the ruling party. To be sworn in also is her brother, Vice Governor Stephen James Tan. 

The governor and the congresswoman ran in the 2016 elections under the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

“President Duterte is very supportive to the province and there is no reason for us to go against him,” Tan told reporters.

Not only the Chief Executive but also cabinet members have been extending support to the local development programs, she said. 

Once officially sworn in as PDP-Laban members, the Tan family of Samar will be the third political clan in Eastern Visayas to join the PDP-Laban.

The Mercado clan of Southern Leyte and all 19 mayors in the province were also sworn in as new ruling party members.

They were followed by Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla and his brother, former Energy secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla, a senatorial bet under the Liberal Party in the 2016 elections.

Leyte 5^th District Rep. Jose Carlos Cari, cousin of the Petillas,  also joined the administration party. Her mother, Baybay City Mayor Carmen Cari said she would also move to PDP-Laban.

Last week, the Espina family of Biliran and all eight mayors of the province joined the administration party. (RTA/LAAA/PNA)