Palace: Duterte won’t meddle in PDP-Laban feud

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte will not meddle in the feud between leaders and expelled members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party, Malacañang said on Thursday.

A Mindanao-based group, whose members claimed to be from PDP-Laban, gathered on Wednesday at the Quezon City Memorial Circle and criticized House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the party’s secretary-general.

Sought for comment, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said Duterte, who serves as party chair, would not interfere with the squabble.

“The President has said, time and again, that the management – although he remains chair of the PDP-Laban – the day-to-day management of party affairs has been delegated to both Senate President Koko Pimentel and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, as well as Energy Secretary [Alfonso]  Cusi,” Roque said in a Palace briefing.

The Palace official hopes the issue between PDP-Laban members would be “threshed out in due course.”

“So the question is: Does the President know about these gripes? Well, the President defers to the leadership, I’m sure this will be threshed out in due course. But the President has full trust and confidence in Senate President Pimentel, Speakers Alvarez and Secretary Cusi,” he said. /je