By Miriam G. Desacada
Catarman N.Samar–Northern Samar Governor Edwin Ongchuan and Vice Governor Clarence Dato, with some provincial leaders, formally joined the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr (PBBM) during the political party’s swearing-in ceremony held at Diamond Hotel in Manila yesterday.
The Northern Samar leaders said their formal membership with PBBM’s Federal Party was a confirmation of their support to the President’s overall development agenda designed to enhance the national economy.
On July 14 last year, the President visited Northern Samar and, right then and there, approved Ongchuan’s request for funding the SPCR2 Project, amounting to P7.2 billion, involving the construction of two bridges that would connect the northernmost Laoang Island to the mainland, which they said were vital for trade accessibility and economic growth.
During the PFP’s ceremony, PBBM emphasized the party’s openness to new members who believe and are willing to align with the government’s economic vision.
“As long as they’re willing to help us in pursuing and promoting the policies that we have created for our people, then of course, they are welcome to join,” the President told the audience.
The President urged the new PFP members to uphold the party’s ideology, focusing on empowering local government units in decision-making and nation-building. PFP welcomes individual members and potential coalition partnership to strengthen its reason for being or existence, he said.
The PFP was established in 2018 as an advocate for federalism in the Philippines, under the leadership of PBBM, its founding chairman.
On August 24 last year, 15 governors in the country, and presidential son, Representative Sandro Marcos, were sworn in as members of the party. It is now evident that more and more political leaders are joining in as its official members, said many political observers. —-Miriam G. Desacada