PDP-Laban Public Information Committee Chairman Ronwald Munsayac on Friday said the 36th anniversary of the ruling party at The Peninsula Manila was the “real one” and branded as “fake” the celebration at the Quezon City Memorial Circle.
He also criticized the organizers of the “fake event,” specifically Rogelio Garcia and Cesar Cuntapay.
“Rogelio Garcia is not the National Council Chairman. President Rodrigo Duterte is the National Chairman of PDP Laban. Garcia’s membership is suspended pending an investigation of the Party,” Munsayac said.
He said the event in Quezon Memorial Circle was spearheaded by Cuntapay, a PDP-Laban member expelled for not following party discipline; Garcia, and other critics of House Speaker and Party Secretary-General Pantaleon Alvarez.
“Our Chairman, President Rodrigo Duterte, delegated the day-to-day management of the party to the party President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, the party secretary-general Pantaleon Alvarez, and vice chairman Alfonso Cusi,” said Munsayac.
He accused Garcia of usurping the rightful place of the President and also defying the Party’s duly constituted leader.
Duterte, through Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, has said that he will defer to the leadership of the Party.
Munsayac said, “Vice Chairman Alfonso Cusi, as head of our discipline committee, is already investigating members who went to the unsanctioned event in Quezon City. He assured the leadership that he will be stern but fair in these proceedings.”
While some disgruntled members of PDP-Laban feel felt “disgusted over Alvarez, Pimentel defended the House Speaker. He recognized Ahim for building the party in Congress.
Pimentel noted that the party founded by his father and namesake, who also served as Senate President, has 122 members now. Before, it only had three members in the House of Representatives.
He also lauded Alvarez, a former member of Lakas, the ruling party under the previous administration, for recruiting members from the grassroots.
The Senate leader earlier acknowledged Alvarez’s strengthening the party with quality members.
He likewise said Alvarez, the party’s secretary general, was crucial in the passage of laws that forward the reforms the party has been advocating.
Alvarez’s drew flak from partymates who strongly criticized the House leader for acting on his own, even without the consent coming from Duterte.
A group of PDP-Laban members from different parts of the country hurled several issues Alvarez whom they have been demanding to be declared “persona non grata.”