• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer yesterday said that there was no order from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for members of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) in Negros Occidental, to resign from their political party.
Ferrer, the personal adviser of President Marcos Jr. in Western Visayas, however said he will respect the decision of elected officials, should they resign from PDP.
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, along with the late Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., as well as about 200 elected officials of Negros Occidental, including mayors, vice mayors, councilors, and some board members, took their oath as PDP Laban members in 2016, after attending an orientation at a hotel in Bacolod City.
Benitez disclosed on Friday that he heard reports on mass resignations of PDP members in the province.
First to resign was the group of Victorias City Vice Mayor Abelardo Bantug Jr. and nine city councilors, following the announcement of Atty. Jesus Hinlo, deputy secretary general of PDP Visayas, that the party is eyeing the fielding of former Victorias City Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca against incumbent Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson in the elections next year.
PDP members in Negros Occidental are either affiliated with United Negros Alliance and Love Negros, who have already expressed their full support for the planned reelection bid of Gov. Lacson.
Ferrer is a member of the National Unity Party (NUP), while Lacson is affiliated with the Nationalist People’s Coalition.
In a separate interview, Hinlo said it is premature to comment, until the move happens. At the same time, he also said that PDP members who may have complaints, can contact him anytime.
Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante, UNegA secretary general, said there is no need for him to resign from PDP, stressing the possibility that he could have not been accepted in the PDP.
Asked if they had been issued membership documents after attending the seminar orientation and taking their oaths, Escalante said they had not received any, nor feedback from PDP of the papers they submitted.
The PDP is now headed by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
On the other hand, President Marcos Jr. leads the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, which some PDP members have also joined.
Escalante said he has no plans to talk to Hinlo.
“What’s the use? Tapos na ang laban (The fight is already finished), he stressed, adding that the problem is not with Hinlo, but in the upper echelons of PDP.*
