PDP-Laban members in House to exceed 100

MANILA, Philippines – The ranks of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban), incoming president Rodrigo Duterte’s political party, are expected to swell to over 100 in the House of Representatives before the 17th Congress opens on July 25, officials said yesterday.

PDP-Laban spokesman Paola Alvarez said about 30 neophyte and reelected House members have taken their oath with the party after the elections.

“We’re still in the process of collating our memberships because there are many coming from different political parties who have signified their intention to join PDP-Laban,” Alvarez said in a telephone interview.

Duterte ran and won under the PDP-Laban, which makes it the next ruling party.

The PDP-Laban shortly after the elections had only four members in the House, including Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, who is Duterte’s choice as the next speaker.

As the emerging party in power, the PDP-Laban must have a comfortable number of members in the House to enable it to control various leadership posts, particularly the committee chairmanships.

At stake are nearly a hundred chairmanships and vice chairmanships of regular and special committees that Alvarez can distribute to allied House members.

Alvarez vowed a fair leadership where all parties would have an equitable share of leadership posts in the House.

The past several days saw stalwarts from the Liberal Party (LP) of outgoing President Aquino joining the PDP-Laban, including Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, who is touted to be the next House majority leader.

Last week, at least 60 out of the 115 LP members in the chamber have formally signified their intention to join the majority bloc, which meant they are supporting Alvarez’s bid to be speaker in the incoming Duterte administration.

The remaining LP members are expected to remain with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who is expected to be the minority leader in the incoming Congress.

Last week, the 37-member Party-List Coalition (PLC), led by 1-Pacman party-list Rep. Michael Romero, forged an alliance with PDP-Laban.

While the PLC and other parties – the Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Lakas-CMD and National Unity Party – have forged separate pacts with PDP-Laban, the “pro-majority” LP bloc have not yet done so, making them vulnerable to raiding.

Alvarez earlier told reporters that he expects over 200 lawmakers to vote for him as speaker on July 25. The incoming House is expected to have nearly 300 members.

He had also invited LP lawmakers to join the PDP-Laban and not just be part of the majority bloc.

“I really thank them (pro-majority LPs) for expressing they will support the incoming administration but I guess they have to sort things out because for me, it would be a bit awkward that there will be minority and majority members from the LP,” Alvarez told reporters last week after swearing in new PDP-Laban members in Makati City.

“I would prefer that those who want to join the majority will either join the PDP-Laban or other parties (formally) allied with PDP-Laban…it’s best if they join,” he said.