Arroyo, 2 of her former Cabinet members join PDP-Laban

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and two of her former Cabinet members Arthur Yap and Nasser Pangandaman are the newest recruits to the PDP-Laban bandwagon.

Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative; Yap, who served as her Agriculture Secretary and now a Bohol representative; and Pangandaman, who was her Agrarian Reform secretary, took their oath before Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday.

“My joining the PDP-Laban is to consolidate support for the President,” Arroyo said in a statement. “It is a matter of course as we have been talking about this for quite sometime.”

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas showed reporters a photograph of the oath-taking ceremony inside the Speaker’s Hall at the House of Representatives.

Also pictured taking his oath was Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo.

Arroyo was the leader of the Lakas-Christian-Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), while Yap belonged to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Romualdo was a Liberal Party member who then jumped to Lakas-CMD before joining the administration party.

Arroyo and the others made their move to PDP-Laban before the party’s self-imposed moratorium on the acceptance of new members.

The party’s president, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, announced on Monday that PDP-Laban would stop accepting new members after November.

In a statement, Pimentel said he was wary of “latecomers” who would show up at the last minute to claim the privileges of the party membership but would not contribute anything to PDP-Laban’s development.

“PDP Laban is a party for those who believe in its principles, whether it is in power or not,” Pimentel said. “We are not a party of political convenience. By stopping recruitment, we will have time to indoctrinate and train our members, screen possible candidates, and absorb our new members into our grassroots infrastructure.”

/atm