Old wounds reopened as Villar recalls past NP-PDP-Laban issue

Do you consider it an alliance when one is raiding the membership of another party?

Old wounds reopened when Senator Cynthia Villar recalled on Tuesday how the Nacionalista Party (NP) had lost at least 10 partymates to the ruling PDP-Laban.

NP is founded by the senator’s husband, former Senate President Manny Villar, while PDP-Laban is currently being chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte.

When Duterte was elected in 2016, Senator Villar said PDP-Laban had only two members in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

“So we thought that since we want to give support to President Duterte, maganda ding mag-alliance ang PDP at saka ang Nacionalista para dumami-dami ang nagsu-support kay President noong biglang nanalo si President Duterte,” she said in an interview at the Senate.

“Pero nakita naman natin lumaki ang PDP, hindi na nila kami kailangan and in fact, siguro 10 Nacionalista congressmen transferred to PDP. So alliance ba iyong kinukuha ang mga member mo?” the incumbent senator added.

But that was all in the past, she said, long before the reported squabbling within the PDP-Laban that resulted in the ouster of Alvarez as Speaker of the House.

Alvarez, in a surprise move last July 23, was ousted from his post and replaced by former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Baka galit na rin sila sa amin kasi bumoto iyong aming partido kay GMA (Arroyo’s initials),” the senator said.

She could not categorically say if the two parties remained in the coalition until now.

“Wala namang problema doon kasi nire-recognize ni President Duterte na ang PDP ay kanyang partido iyon. Ayaw naman nating ma-harm ang PDP. Wala na iyon kasi for me ang alliance, it’s how you deal with each other,” she said.

The senator reiterated, however, that an alliance is not only in the paper but “how you deal with the people in the alliance.”

“Pero whatever, tapos na iyon. May problema sila, ayaw naman nating makigulo pa sa kanila.” the senator added.

The senator talked about the NP’s past issue with PDP-Laban when asked to confirm reports that her party was considering an alliance with Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).

HNP is the regional political group of Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who reportedly had a hand in Alvarez’s ouster.

“OK naman na makipag-alliance sa kanila if ever. Kaya lang wala silang precedent. Maliit lang silang regional party; they are limited to Region 11,” Senator Villar said.

“Gusto lang nilang (HNP) may alliance pero wala pa silang nagagawa to a major national political party. So this is a precedent,” she added./ac