ILOILO – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. vehemently denied reports he is running for congressman in the 4th District next year.
“How can that be? I’m not even a resident of the 4th District,” said Defensor.
The governor is a resident of the municipality of Mina which belongs to the 3rd District.
“I am also a registered voter in Mina,” stressed Defensor.
According to reports, the governor was born in Dumangas town which is part of the 4th District.
Defensor said a person who intends to run for an elective post in a certain area must be a resident of that area for at least a year prior to election day.
In his case, said Defensor, he does not even have a house in any of the municipalities in the 4th District.
Defensor is currently in his third and final term as governor. He previously announced he would retire from politics and won’t seek an elective post in the 2019 election.
Defensor entered politics at the age of 26. He became the first municipal mayor of Mina.
In 1984 he was elected an opposition assemblyman in the Batasang Pambansa and in 1986 after the EDSA People Power Revolution was appointed by then President Corazon Aquino as undersecretary of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports.
In 1989 Aquino made him a commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government that ran after the hidden wealth of deposed President Ferdinand Marcos.
In the 1992 election he ran for Iloilo governor and won, serving for three consecutive terms until 2001.
Defensor was elected congressman of the 3rd District in 2001 and served for three consecutive terms and in 2010 ran for governor of Iloilo once again, then successfully sought reelection in the 2013 and 2016 elections./PN
