Priscillano Almendras was voted Vice Governor and the members of the Provincial Board were Nazario Pacquiao, Salutario Fernandez and Isidro Escario.
[8] Then President Ferdinand Marcos appointed him as Secretary of the Public Works, Transportation, and Communication in November 1968, serving as both governor and member of the Cabinet.
It was during this time that the plans for the Mactan Bridge were initiated,[9] and Espina oversaw the completion of its construction when he became part of the advisers of Marcos after Congress was dissolved on the establishment of martial law in the country in 1972.
[8][12] During the 1978 election for the Iinterim Batasang Pambansa, he was one of the 13 candidates together with Eduardo Gullas, Ramon Durano III, Tito Calderon, Emilio Osmeña and Antonio Cuenco for the Marcos-backed political party Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) to represent Region VII.
[13] However, none of them were elected and instead, all 13 candidates from the local political party, Pusyon Bisaya that included Natalio Bacalso and which received widespread support, were voted to represent all seats for the region.