NOTE: THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado has officially joined the alliance under the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the political party chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
The declaration of Aumentado’s full support to the Marcos administration took place during the oath-taking ceremony held last Thursday at the Britanny Hotel in Taguig, Metro Manila.
The event also highlighted the PFP and the Villar-led Nacionalista Party’s official signing of the coalition for next year’s midterm polls, which President Marcos declared the “largest political bloc” in the country.
Aumentado, joined by other four governors, pledged their support to the ruling party in the presence of South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., the national president of PFP.
The governors who also took oath were Bataan Governor Jose Enrique Garcia, Mountain Province Governor Bonifacio Lacwasan, Siquijor Governor Vincent Villa, and Surigao Governor Alexander Pimentel.
“Ang Bohol mihatag na og manifesto gikan sa Liga (ng mga Barangay), PCL, LMP, SK, ug Sangguniang (Panlalawigan) (ug) apil ang tulo ka congressman/congresswoman. Among gipakita nga sinsero ta sa atong suporta para ni President Bongbong Marcos,” Aumentado said during the weekly The Capitol Reports on Friday, August 9.
Before the oath-taking event, Aumentado along with eight governors signed a manifesto in support of the Marcos administration during Cebu province’s 455th founding anniversary celebration on August 5, witnessed by First Lady Liza Louise Araneta-Marcos.
The manifesto was signed by Governors Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Jake Vincent Villa of Siquijor, Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental, Jose Enrique Miraflores of Aklan, Damian Mercado of Southern Leyte, Joaquin Carlos Rahman Araño Nava of Guimaras, and Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo.
Aumentado, who has long been affiliated with the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), had already supported the candidacy of President Marcos during the 2022 national election.
With Aumentado’s move to PFP, it is expected that his allied mayors and other local officials, who plan to run in the upcoming election under the Abante Bohol group, will also follow suit and join the new party.
This ongoing alliance will also bolster the unity among provincial and local leaders in Bohol to achieve Aumentado’s Strategic Change Agenda in the UNESCO Global Geopark Island Province. (PiMO/JSS)