Rep. Cyrille “Beng” Abueg-Zaldivar of the 2nd District and his brother, gubernatorial candidate Frederick “Erick” Abueg, support the Leni-Kiko ticket in the 2022 presidential race.
A copy of a news release obtained by Palawan News on October 19 stated that the Abueg siblings decided to support Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and Vice President Leni Robredo after taking a virtual oath with the Liberal Party (LP) leadership on September 27.
Rep. Beng is the incumbent representative of Palawan’s 2nd District. In 2019, she ran for office and won under the banner of the local party, Partidong Pagbabago ng Palawan (PPP). Her brother Erick, was deputy speaker of the House from 2016 to 2019 during his term as representative of the same district. Atty. Erick left 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. 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 [LP]. This is the kind of leadership that we will see from VP Leni and Sen. Kiko in 2022,” Rep. Beng said in the statement.
In 2017, with VP Leni as party chairman and Sen. Kiko as party president, the LP opened its membership to non-politicians. They included the youth, professionals, and members of the academe and non-government organizations, among others, the statement said.
This was the result of an extensive period of recalibration and reflection and was crucial to the Party’s efforts at rebuilding itself after suffering massive smear and disinformation campaigns during the 2016 Presidential 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 Abueg siblings’ father, Alfredo “Amor” Abueg Jr., was the senior delegate of Palawan to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and was appointed by President Corazon Aquino to be the Officer-in-Charge for Puerto Princesa from 1986 to 1987.
The oathtaking of Representatives Erick and Beng, conducted on the day of LP’s National Executive Council, was presided over by Sen. Pangilinan, party secretary-general and Quezon City 6th District Rep. Jose Christopher “Kit” Belmonte, Party Vice Presidents Erin Tañada and Teddy Baguilat, and 1st District Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza.
