Pangilinan: Ex-LP members couldn’t resist administration party ‘benefits’

Sen. Francis Pangilinan (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The “attraction” and the “benefits” of being part of the administration party were just “hard to resist.”

This was how Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party (LP), explained on Wednesday the exodus of party members to the ruling PDP-Laban headed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“After the elections, 115 congressmen were voted into office as Liberal Party members,” Pangilinan said in a statement. “But the attraction and admittedly the benefits of being part of the good graces of Malacañang were hard to resist; thus, the exodus of party members to the fold of the new ruling party.”

He said the departure of LP members continued and the latest batch to join the PDP-Laban were Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas, a former actors; transgender Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman; Lanao del Sur Rep. Ansaruddin Adiong; North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco; and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo.

READ: 10 lawmakers, 5 of them from LP, join PDP-Laban

“We wish them and all our erstwhile partymates well,” said the senator.

Then after a brief engagement with the Duterte administration, Pangilinan said, the “decimated” LP has been at the “crosshairs” of the new regime, leading not only to its ouster from power in the Cabinet and the Senate but also the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima, based on what he claimed were “unfounded charges and maneuvered legal process.”

“The new party leadership took over six months ago, and we must admit that the challenges are enormous – both internal and external to the organization and the individual members,” Panglinan said. “We don’t have the resources – time, people, or money – for all the accusations the social media trolls and some government officials have thrown at us.”

Since then, he added, the party has been in the “process of reflection, reconnecting, and redefining – crucial requisites to rebuilding.”

“In the face of unprovoked, relentless, and baseless attacks against the party and its leaders, these processes are expectedly rough and tough,” the senator said. “After six months in the LP leadership, we soldier on, taking on the challenges and holding on only to this: that we as a people are what the rest of the world know about us: generous and forgiving, welcoming and loving, not prone to violence or ruthlessness.” /atm