PDP-Laban solons plan to shift allegiance to Inday Sara’s local party

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS

Several House members from the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) are planning to shift allegiance to Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), a lawmaker confirmed on Thursday.

House Deputy Speaker Rolando Andaya Jr. said “quite a handful” of congressmen are “seriously considering” this, but none have formally expressed their desire to do so.

But Andaya pointed out that HNP is only a regional political party. He added that it could coalesce with a national party like Lakas-CMD to gain a national posture.

Newly-installed Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the leader of Lakas before she transferred to PDP-Laban in October 2017.

Asked if he thinks Arroyo would leave PDP to return to Lakas and lead it, Andaya said he doubts this because PDP “supported” her rise to the speakership.

Andaya said the looming changing ship was due to the “disenchantment” of many congressmen who were sidelined for PDP-Laban’s provincial or regional posts.

“Dahil ang naging mitsa ng naging gulo na ito, which eventually led dun sa change of leadership was not the own doing of Speaker (Pantaleon) Alvarez, but it was the way that PDP grew after the assumption of the President to power,” Andaya told reporters in a phone interview.

“Nung lumaki na kasi yung partido sa provinces, nagkaroon ng disenchantment ‘yung mga congressmen dahil ang mga naging provincial o regional leaders were late comers, shall we say. Congressmen felt that they were boxed out or kept in the dark kaya dun pa lang nagkalamat na ‘yung relasyon eh. Kami ‘yung sumuporta, rightfully so, kung meron mang sisisihin ‘yung congressman, yun siguro ‘yung nilang binito nila for the Speaker (Alvarez) na tingin nila dapat sinuportahan sila but that did not happen,” he continued.

At present, Andaya said PDP has “more than a hundred” members in the lower chamber.

Last Monday, former president Arroyo sealed her return to power after 184 House members voted her as the new Speaker, ending Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez’s two-year grip on the post.

READ: While Alvarez was making enemies, Arroyo was consolidating her forces

She has been rumored to replace Alvarez since February this year following a rift with Duterte-Carpio. This came after Alvarez supposedly called her newly formed party, HNP, as part of the opposition and for saying he could impeach President Rodrigo Duterte. However, Alvarez had denied all of these. /jpv

READ: Solons say Sara Duterte played key role in Alvarez ouster