The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), if needed, will serve as a fiscalizer and voice concerns for the Marcos administration, PDP-Laban chairman and former President Rodrigo Duterte said.
“Mayroon tayong nakikita ngayon. Pero it is not of a… para sa akin, not really one of interest of the public that would demand at this time to create a friction. But the President can be very sure that in the coming days we will fiscalize.
‘Pag may nakita tayong masama, we will raise our voice, because that is the essence of our presence here,” Duterte,quoted by a GMA News report, said.
Duterte further said the party “is not putting up a strong party against the party of the President. We are not going to quarrel. Far from it, we will be giving our full support for him politically,” Duterte said.
The PDP-Laban recently a national assembly in Pasay City on Thursday.
Duterte, asked about his assessment of Marcos Jr.’s first months in office, refused to give a statement until the President completes his first 100 days.
He also did not give comments on the recent spate of kidnappings, but suggested that if the police force needs help, the Marcos administration can tap the military.
The PDP-Laban approved resolutions on Thursday calling on the President land law enforcement agencies to intensify the campaign against criminality and continue the war on illegal drugs, GMA News reported.
The party also urged the chief executive to “fully activate” the NTF-ELCAC and prioritize local peace talks. Duterte further said there is no need to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army as terror organizations, before the government can go after the said groups.
The former president made an appeal to PDP-Laban members, who, in the future could be part of the efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution: “Those who are incumbent and who would one day be called upon to change the Constitution, do away with the party list system.”
He lamented the party-list system, saying it has “defeated its purpose,” and urged his partymates to stay with PDP-Laban, even as some have jumped ship after the presidential elections.
Duterte meanwhile said he figured in a motorcycle accident and recently experienced vertigo.
“I drove on the highway. I collided with my security aide. I told them not to run a stride with me, because of my peripheral vision…I told them to stay behind me,” Duterte, quoted in the report, said, adding that “I collided with him. Good thing that after the MRI and everything, he was fine. He really flew.”
Duterte said his allies have since discouraged him from riding the motorcycle again, but he says he still needs to give it a go.
PDP-Laban alsoelected Palawan Representative Jose Alvarez as its new president,
replacing former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, during the PDP-Laban’s 40th anniversary and National Assembly that was personally graced by party chief Duterte.
Alvarez, who was nominated by Cusi, won the position without contest.
Among other PDP-Laban officials elected during the event included: Senator Francis Tolentino as Vice President for Luzon; Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama as Vice President for Visayas; Senator Ronald dela Rosa as Vice President for Mindanao; Lawyer Melvin Matibag as Secretary General; Pampanga Representative Aurelio Gonzales as Treasurer; and Senator Bong Go as Auditor.