Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr. is expected to officially be sworn in as a member of the ruling PDP-Laban, alongside an estimated 4,000 other Iloilo officials, in a ceremony next week, January 18.

The event was originally scheduled for December 1 of last year, however, the governor said in November 2017, “[House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez] requested that we hold the ceremony after Christmas.”

“We will do it before Dinagyang,” he added.

Defensor, who served as provincial chairman for the Liberal Party (LP), noted, it was Alvarez that extended the invitation to join PDP-Laban.

“You cannot accuse me of being an opportunist, I was invited,” he insisted.

Back in August 2017, over 4,000 Iloilo officials joined the party in a ceremony at the Iloilo Convention Center

Guimaras Governor Samuel Gumarin, another former LP member, was also part of the ceremony./PLL, WDJ