CamSur Gov. LRay Deserts Lakas, Leads Mass Oath-taking to Villar's NP

PILI, CAMARINES SUR (21 October) -Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte Jr., national chairman of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, bolted the Lakas-CMD which he served as deputy spokesman, and took oath as the latest biggest recruit of the Nacionalista Party (NP) headed by Sen. Manny Villar, bringing along with him Vice-Gov. Salvio Fortuno and over a thousand incumbent leaders of the province.

Villar administered the oath to the governor and vice-governor, along with eight board members, nine mayors, 13 vice-mayors, 264 councilors, and 720 municipal leaders in the province in ceremonies participated in by committed NP's key grassroots backers clad in orange shirts at the CamSur Capitol Complex Cadlan, Pili, Camarines Sur.

Villafuerte said, "We believe in the leadership of Senator Villar, whose track record sets him apart from the rest of our presidential hopefuls. As the only one with a solid experience in the executive level, he will be able to govern the country from day one and achieve results. Having started from scratch and made his mark, his strength is what our calamity-torn country needs."

"We trust that Bikol, which has been neglected for a long time, will be in a better condition with Senator Villar at the helm of governance," said the governor.

Villar said, "Having Gov. LRay and the people of CamSur as formidable partners in our pursuit to improve the lives of our citizens empower our efforts and delivery of results needed by the nation. I am deeply grateful for your overwhelming support."

The governor further stressed, "The Nacionalista Party is the strongest and most organized in the province, fielding candidates from the provincial down to all municipal positions with a grassroots organization down to the precinct level in the forthcoming elections."

League of Municipalities president Nabua Mayor Ferdinand Simbulan, Vice-Mayors League president Nathaniel Capucao, Councilors League president Antonio Olaño and ABC President Romeo Gontang were among those who took their oath. Also present were delegations from Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Masbate, and Camarines Norte.

NP stalwart Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara, spokesman former Representative Gilbert Remulla, and Atty. Adel Tamano attended the oath-taking rites.

Villafuerte is credited for making Camarines Sur as the undisputed most favored tourist destination in the country today for strategic investments in tourism projects such as the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) and Caramoan developments.  CamSur is now the number 1 tourist destination in the country based on DoT statistics of tourist arrivals from January to June 2009.

Equally among Villafuerte's outstanding innovative ventures is the Information Technology Park, a PEZA accredited special economic zone and the first and only such facility in the country owned and operated by a local government unit where the multinational Sutherland Global Services is now located with 700 seats presently working on double shifts and expected to be expanded to 2,000 seats before the end of the year.

The IT Park also has facilities for digital animation where the multi-awarded Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia was created; Japanese, Korean and English proficiency courses; medical transcription training.

With his entrepreneurial approach to local governance, Governor Villafuerte has transformed CamSur from the 39^th rank among the most depressed provinces to tenth richest province in terms of net income and total assets, based on a Commission on Audit report after evaluation of year 2007 statements.

Camarines Sur, the largest province in the Bikol region, has a voting population of over one million. It is Bikol's no. 1 and 10th placer in terms of net income as certified by the Commission on Audit 2008 report for the fiscal year 2007 as submitted by 80 provinces.