Senate President and PDP Laban President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Monday said that PDP Laban will stop accepting new members by the end of November 2017.
He cited the need for the party to have sufficient time to screen, vet, and choose the official party candidates for the May 2019 national and local elections.
Last week, Pimentel released a partial list of PDP-Laban senatorial candidtoates in the coming elections. Aside from himself, Pimentel named the other five possible PDP-Laban bets as majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman, Davao City Karlo Nograles and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino.
Benitez, Roman and Tolentino were allies of the Liberal Party during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III before they jumped to the other side of the political fence after Duterte won as president.
Tolentino ran for senator in the 2016 elections and finished no. 13 in the final tally. Since then, he has served as political adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte, the party’s national chairman.
Pimentel said he has not yet personally talked to the prospective candidates about the matter.
After the massive influx of new members into the party for the past year, Pimentel said they now have a ‘significant presence’ in most of the provinces of the country.
“We should now focus on teaching all the members the Party Ideology and Program of Government and deepening their understanding of these. After this, we can present a solid and united front come 2019,” he said.
The Senate President said that he is wary of “latecomers” who would show up at the last minute to claim the privileges of party membership without actually contributing anything to the development of PDP Laban.
“PDP Laban is a party for those who believe in its principles, whether it is in power or not. We are not a party of political convenience,” said Pimentel.
“By stopping recruitment, we will have time to indoctrinate and train our members, screen possible candidates, and absorb our new members into our grassroots infrastructure.”
PDP Laban is one of the few parties in Philippine politics that actively recruits from the grassroots and which has an ideology, that it captures in the following phrase: “Belief in God; Human Dignity; Love of Country; Equal Opportunities for All; Consultative and Participatory Democracy; and Federalism.”
Even as Pimentel mulls closing the party’s doors to new members next month, the recruitment drive continues until then.
In the previous week, Governor Abdusakur Tan of Sulu, Governor Zaldy Villa of Siquijor, and Vice Governor Peter Alfaro of Occidental Mindoro led new PDP Laban members in taking their oaths of membership before Senate President Pimentel.
Before them came local government officials from Pangasinan, Leyte, Cavite, Laguna, Iloilo Province and City, Negros Occidental, Compostela Valley, Catanduanes, and Masbate, among others.
“It is the duty of every member of PDP Laban to pursue the Change that we have promised under President Duterte, foremost of which is the shift to the Federal System of Government,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel’s father, PDP-Laban founder and former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr, earlier called on the party to question the motives of new members in joining them.
“It (the party) is now being swamped by new members, and I think it is important that the motivation of these people going to the party should be put into question,” said the elder Pimentel.