The local support for Vice President Leni Robredo and her running mate Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan was further amplified after two more congressmen from Palawan joined the Liberal Party (LP) ahead of the May 2022 polls.
This came after Palawan district representatives Erick and Beng Abueg recently formalized their LP membership in a virtual oath-taking ceremony.
Lawyer Cyrille “Beng” Abueg-Zaldivar is the incumbent representative of Palawan’s 2nd district. In 2019, she ran for office and won under the banner of the local party, Partido Pagbabago ng Palawan (PPP).
Her sibling Frederick Abueg, on the other hand, was House deputy speaker from 2016 to 2019. He left the once-ruling LP in 2019 to actively participate in PPP.
“VP Leni, Sen. Kiko, and the rest of the LP’s leadership are always ready to listen to the people,” Abueg-Zaldivar said.
“The fact that they’ve done grassroots organizing really factored into my decision to become an LP member, and my brother’s decision to rejoin . This is the kind of leadership that we will see from VP Leni and Sen. Kiko in 2022,” she added.
Earlier, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas and Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno also expressed their backing of Robredo’s candidacy.
READ: Local support for Robredo swells
In 2017, with Robredo as LP chair and Pangilinan as party president, the party opened its membership to non-politicians. They included the youth, professionals, members of the academe and non-government organizations, among others.
This was the result of an extensive period of recalibration, which became crucial to the LP's rebuilding efforts after suffering from massive smear and disinformation campaigns during the 2016 elections.
Since then, over 16,000 Filipinos have signed up to join LP. They are now organized into more than 160 chapters across the country.
The oathtaking of the Abuegs, conducted during LP’s National Executive Council, was presided over by Pangilinan, LP secretary general and Quezon City Rep. Jose Christopher “Kit” Belmonte, LP vice presidents Erin Tañada and Teddy Baguilat Jr., and Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza.