MANILA, Philippines ? Anticipating a departure by some of their local members to other political parties, top officials of the ruling Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats party on Thursday said they would conduct a loyalty check.

Emerging from a meeting of party executive officials, Saranggani Governor Miguel Dominguez, Lakas-Kampi-CMD president, said there was a need to determine who among their members would stay and carry the candidacy of their standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro and his slate.

Dominguez said they also agreed to organize regional planning of Lakas-Kampi-CMD chapters to synchronize the campaigns of national and local candidates. The campaign period for the locals officially begins on March 26.

At this time, Dominguez said it was important to ?closely monitor our ranks? to see who were really for the party. He also said they would impose penalties to erring members.

?We will conduct loyalty check on our partymates. This election season, it is important to closely monitor our ranks, and we will not hesitate to discipline our party members,? Dominguez told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

When asked how much of their forces were leaving for other parties, he said they have yet to make an official count, but aired concern that some were really expected to ?shift loyalties? especially when the official campaign season starts for local officials.

He said that this early, it was important that they weed out the party of members whose loyalty belonged to different political groups.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD, whose merger was sealed last year, is banking on its huge party machinery to deliver the win for Teodoro in the May elections.

About 70 percent of the officials up for election belong to the Lakas-Kampi-CMD that could translate up to 10.8 million votes, party officials said.

Teodoro has been lagging in fourth place in various surveys, but officials said his ratings would shore up once the local officials began campaigning for him.