‘PDP-LABAN HAS PLANS FOR EDGAR’

Party official says Labella has to undergo basic membership seminar before he can be fullpledged member, poll bet

Leaders of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) have bigger plans for Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella, once his membership to the group is completed, an official said.

In a statement, PDP-Laban membership committee vice chairman and Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary Daniel Ebarle Mercado said that Labella will just have to go through the basic membership seminar.

“PDP-Laban Region 7 Council has already concluded that Vice Mayor Labella is the choice for Cebu City. The party obviously has serious plans for him. It’s only just a matter of time and in the very near future,” he said.

“Even our National Secretary General House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, among others, also acknowledges this and it’s just a matter time that he completes the final stage, which is the seminar and he will be an official PDP-Laban associate member, which means he at that point is a legitimate member of the party,” Mercado said.

Right after the membership seminar, Mercado said, Labella will already authorized to restructure the Cebu City chapter of PDP-Laban.

In City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is not after the group, but wants to call out Labella’s “dishonesty.”

“Why did you say that you are the president without informing the other president that there is a new president?” he said.

The mayor earlier described Labella as a “bogus president” of the group.

“Many people in the party are complaining to me; (they told me) we have our officers. I’m just voicing out because it’s not a question of whether I get involved in their party. It’s a question of integrity. Can you be trusted? You have to undergo a seminar, you don’t become a member without that,” he said.

Earlier, Labella, after taking his oath as a member of the group, confirmed that he was appointed by Alvarez as PDP-Laban president in Cebu City.

In a Facebook post, former Kamputhaw barangay captain Lorenzo Basamot claimed that he was appointed as vice president of PDP-Laban Cebu City chapter.

His appointment was signed by Lorna Roa Bacalla, who is reportedly the party’s chapter president in Cebu City. Labella took his oath as member of the administration party last January. /

PDP-Laban Region 7 Council has already concluded that Vice Mayor Labella is the choice for Cebu City. The party obviously has serious plans for him. It’s only a matter of time. DANIEL EBARLE MERCADO