SOME members of the ruling PDP-Laban who gathered at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City lashed out at House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez Wednesday and questioned the mass oathtaking ceremonies that he has been leading.
“Members are complaining about the mass oathtakings,” said Rogelio Garcia, PDP-Laban national council chairman. “Why are they doing these without the approval of the party?”
At the same even to mark the 36th founding anniversary of the party, Cesar Ledesma, one of the party’s founders, said the thousands of new members sworn into the party did not undergo the basic membership seminar required by the party’s charter and by-laws.
He said only those who commit to the party’s philosophy and principles may apply for membership and must be approved by the local councils.
Garcia also complained that he and other members from Mindanao were not invited to the PDP-Laban’s anniversary celebration at the Peninsula Manila in Makati Tuesday.
“When I called them, they said you people from Mindanao really will not be invited because you’ll just cause trouble in the party,” he said in Filipino.
He later said some council members wanted Alvarez to be declared persona non grata in Mindanao.
But the national chairman of the PDP-Laban information committee, Ronwald Munsayac, later said the event at the Quezon Memorial Circle was not sanctioned by party leaders, and that some of those in the event had already been expelled.
Alvarez was quoted as saying those who spoke out against him were crazy and had long been expelled from the PDP-Laban.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, the party’s president, praised Alvarez.
In a speech delivered during the party’s 36th anniversary at The Peninsula Manila in Makati City on Tuesday, Pimentel recognized Alvarez for building the party in Congress.
Pimentel noted that the party founded by his father and namesake who also served as Senate president, had 122 members now. Before, it only had three members in the House of Representatives.
He also lauded Alvarez for recruiting members from the grassroots.
The Senate leader had earlier acknowledged Alvarez’s strengthening the party with quality members.
He also said Alvarez, the party’s secretary general, was crucial in the passage of laws that forward the reforms the party has been advocating.
Pimentel said the group at the Quezon City Memorial Circle did not represent the party, and urged them to “immediately cease” from taking actions that were “inimical” to the PDP-Laban’s image and morale.
In the House, opposition lawmaker Rep. Tom Villarin of the Akbayan party-list slammed Alvarez for acting like a bully instead of a statesman.
He cited Alvarez’s threat to give provinces that opposed PDP-Laban’s advocacy of federalism would get “zero budget.”
“His use and abuse of power is disconcerting to say the least,” Villarin said.
Villarin also said the PDP-Laban’s legacy would be damaged by Alvarez’s “bullying ways.”
In the Palace, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte, chairman of the party, would not get involved in the bickering among PDP-Laban members.
He said the differences would be “threshed out in due course.”
Alvarez on Thursday said the PDP-Laban wants more candidates from Mindanao in the party’s senatorial ticket for the 2019 mid-term elections.
Speaking before some 6,000 local officials from 20 municipalities, one city and 335 barangays of Surigao City who took their oath as new members of PDP, Alvarez said that so far there are only three in the current crop of senators who are from Mindanao, namely Pimentel and Senators Miguel Zubiri and Manny Pacquiao.
“Let’s add some more [from Mindanao], “Alvarez said in the local dialect.
For this purpose, Alvarez endorsed the candidacy of Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, and Maguindanao 2nd District Rep. Sajid Mangudadatu.
“These are our guys—these two are from Mindanao,” Alvarez said.
He also said he would try to convince Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go to run for the Senate.
Alvarez urged new PDP members in the province to start listing the names of senators who have voiced their opposition to the administration’s push for federalism.
“And when the election comes in 2019, don’t vote for them,” Alvarez said.
At the same time, Alvarez said Pimentel, who is up for reelection, would lead the PDP senatorial slate.
Alvarez said other possible members of the administration’s senatorial ticket in 2019 from the House of Representatives include Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Rep. Reynaldo Umali, Negros Occidental 3dr District Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, and Bataan 1st District Rep. Geraldine Roman.
From the Executive department, Alvarez said Communications Undersecretary Mocha Uson and presidential spokespman Harry Roque are also being considered for inclusion in the PDP senatorial slate.
