Panaghiusa picks Casas as its new chairman

Panaghiusa head and former Cebu City Councilor Jose “Joey” Daluz III announced that their group will also support the presidential bid of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and the vice presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in next year’s elections

FORMER Cebu City administrator Floro “Jun” Casas Jr. has been chosen as the new chairman of the Partido Panaghiusa.

Casas was chosen by the party’s leaders to replace the late Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, who served as the party’s chairman emeritus just before he died in November.

Lawyer and Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) Board chairman Jose Daluz III, who serves as Panaghiusa’s president, confirmed the matter to SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.

“In principle, we have already offered the seat to Atty.Jun Casas and he has accepted the challenge to be our chairman in Panaghiusa party,” Daluz said.

In a separate interview, Casas told SunStar Cebu that he was honored to have been chosen by Panaghiusa as their chairman.

“It will be big shoes to fill as I am following in the footsteps of Mayor Edgar Labella to lead Panaghiusa Party as their chairman. But I like the challenge as our mayor did before when we were still campaigning for him to be the mayor of Cebu City over three years ago,” Casas added.

Before becoming Panaghiusa chairman, Casas worked as a lawyer assigned at the Court of Appeals, as chief legal counsel for Visayas and Mindanao for Vistaland Company, as managing partner for Labella’s law firm, EC Labella and Partners Law Office, and as legal officer for the Cebu City Legal Office.

Casas formally resigned his post as Cebu City administrator last Nov. 24, saying with Labella’s Nov. 19 passing, his coterminous appointment as city administrator had also expired.

Isko-Sara

Aside from announcing Casas’ entry into their party, Daluz also announced that Panaghiusa will also support the presidential bid of Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and the vice presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in next year’s elections.

Daluz’s endorsement comes as a bit of a surprise considering that Panaghiusa is currently in a coalition with Partido Barug, which has yet to decide who it will endorse for president after its initial bet, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, backed out of the presidential race.

Panaghiusa is not the first local party from Cebu to have announced its official bets for president and vice president for next year’s elections.

Just before Go withdrew his candidacy, he was endorsed along with Carpio as the official bets for Partido Barug.

Cebu City’s opposition party, Barug Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan, also announced that it will support the presidential bid of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo in 2022.