Some LP lawmakers banned from joining majority bloc

MANILA, Philippines - President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has asked the incoming leadership of the House of Representatives to prevent certain Liberal Party (LP) lawmakers from joining the majority bloc in the 17th Congress.

Sources from the chamber named Reps. Edgar Erice of Caloocan City, Xavier Jesus Romualdo of Camiguin and Henedina Abad of Batanes as being banned from joining the majority coalition.

Duterte’s party, the PDP-Laban, is inviting lawmakers from other parties, including the LP, to join the majority coalition – except the three congressmen.

The source said there are other lawmakers from the LP who are also being blocked from joining the pro-administration bloc but they are appealing to incoming speaker Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez.

The ban is for the lawmakers’ “unforgivable offenses” committed against Duterte during the campaign, sources said.

Erice was banned for acting as the attack dog for LP presidential candidate Manuel Roxas II; Abad for being the wife of outgoing Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who is the LP’s ideologue; and Romualdo for allegedly trying to disrupt Duterte’s campaign in his province.

Erice shrugged off the supposed ban, saying he was set on joining the minority or opposition bloc in the chamber.

The PDP-Laban meanwhile is close to achieving its goal of having at least 100 congressmen in its roster even as it has asked other allied parties – including the Nacionalista Party (NP), Nationalist People’s Coalition  (NPC), the National Unity Party (NUP) and Lakas-CMD – to stop their recruitment of members, particularly from the LP.

The other parties want to increase their membership to give them leverage in securing committee chairmanships and other leadership posts in the chamber.

Sources said the PDP-Laban already has some 90 members and more House members are expected to pledge their allegiance in the coming weeks before the 17th Congress opens on July 25.

Alvarez wants to have over 100 PDP-Laban members in the chamber for it to be seen as truly the ruling party and allow the incoming Duterte administration to pursue its legislative agenda.

Lawmakers, however, also see the massive recruitment as well the PDP-Laban’s alliances with other parties as an effort to ensure protection for Duterte in the House in the event of attempts to impeach him.

Alvarez is almost done in forming a majority coalition to be led by PDP-Laban. He has forged formal ties with other political blocs, including Lakas-CMD, the NPC, the NP, the NUP and the Party-List Coalition.

The agreements meant the PDP-Laban cannot raid its allied parties to boost its ranks. This leaves the LP open for poaching by the other parties.

The PDP-Laban had only three members in the House immediately after the May 9 elections.

The PDP-Laban and the LP have yet to formalize an alliance due to differences over numbers.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the LP vice chairman, earlier admitted the partnership talks have hit a snag over the PDP-Laban’s insistence on reducing to 20 the number of party members who will join the majority coalition. This meant that LP members who want to join the majority bloc should switch allegiance to the PDP-Laban.

There are some 40 LP members remaining in the House.

Sources said Alvarez had balked at the demand of the LP several weeks ago that it will join the majority but at the same time retain the committee chairmanships of some of its members.

President Aquino is the LP’s titular head. Vice president-elect Leni Robredo is expected to take over the party post when she assumes office on June 30, being the highest elected official from the LP.