By Manny Piñol
At 2:30 p.m. today, I took my oath before Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who is also the PDP Laban President, as party provincial chairman for my home province, North Cotabato.
While it is just a local party position, I consider this appointment as pivotal in introducing political reforms in my province because this now would give me a direct hand in identifying and selecting leaders who will be supported by PDP Laban and President Rody Duterte in the mid-term elections of 2019.
This will be totally different than in the past when the party leaders in Manila were the ones who decided who should be the official candidates of the administration during elections.
More often than not, those who know how to wiggle their way around and through the political maze to get connected to the party bosses in Manila were the ones who were named official candidates, never mind if they had just jumped from a party which had just lost power.
This happened to me and those who campaigned for then President Benigno Aquino and his vice presidential candidate, Manuel Roxas III, in the 2013 elections.
Our political adversaries were able to connect with the Liberal Party leadership and were named official candidates much to our frustration and consternation.
They attempted to do this again this time but they did not succeed with President Duterte.
This is not going to happen this time.
With the support of President Duterte and the national party leaders, I will ensure that through proper consultations with the constituents of the province and local members of PDP Laban, only those who will carry the policies and programs of the President and those who will best serve the people will be selected as official candidates of the party.
In the last Cabinet Meeting, President Duterte emphasized that he will not allow guns, goons and gold to influence the results of the elections anymore, especially in Mindanao.
I believe that with his determination to cleanse government of the inept and the corrupt, we will be able to achieve change in many areas controlled by moneyed political warlords.
(Photos of my oath taking as PDP Laban Provincial Chairman before Senate President Koko Pimentel today taken by Alan Jay Jacalan.)
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