MANILA, Philippines — Former speaker Pantaleon Alvarez yesterday served notice that he was leaving the ruling PDP-Laban party of his friend President Duterte and is now joining an apolitical organization, where he can pursue his advocacy on voters’ education.
In a press statement, the Davao del Norte congressman made no mention of the Chief Executive’s name, but thanked Sen. Koko Pimentel for allowing him to serve as the secretary-general of PDP-Laban for almost half a decade.
As PDP-Laban president, Pimentel’s leadership was exemplary in the sense that gains have been made in the “party’s efforts in bringing to the attention of the nation the importance of empowering local governments as a prerequisite for a strong republic,” Alvarez noted.
He said he is “seeking the understanding” of Pimentel because he is now “constrained” to tender his “irrevocable resignation from his position and membership in PDP-Laban effective immediately.”
The former House leader, who was ousted in July 2018 and replaced by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said he “resigned because he intends to commit and pursue a voter’s education campaign for Filipinos given the importance of the 2022 elections.”
“Unfortunately, serving as a ranking officer and member of PDP-Laban while simultaneously handling this advocacy may be misconstrued by critics as politicking by the party presently in power,” a portion of the statement read, still without any mention of Duterte.
Alvarez then disclosed that he has “accepted the offer” of former defense secretary Renato de Villa to “lead (as chairman) and revive Reporma, a non-mainstream party not affiliated with any personality reportedly seeking the presidency.”
“This way, the voter’s education campaign can proceed, and rightly be perceived, as politically neutral without risking possible backlash against PDP-Laban,” he said, as he thanked Pimentel for helping him in the 2016 and 2019 elections.
Last month, Alvarez threatened to sue The STAR for libel after a story came out that lumped him together with the House minority after it turned out that he did not join the super majority coalition of 286 House members, even if he is a party stalwart who is close to Duterte.
He clarified that he considers himself an “independent” – not a member of the House minority bloc, much less the left-wing Makabayan bloc – because he did not vote in the speakership fight between Alan Peter Cayetano and Lord Allan Velasco.
“The claim that I joined the minority, or one of the three minority blocs, is not true. First of all, I am not part of the minority and, consequently, cannot be part of any minority bloc. I am not part of any of those minority blocs. Instead, I am an independent member of the House,” he said.
“The article should be taken down immediately and an apology be issued by The Philippine STAR. Further, I am constrained to file the appropriate legal action against Mr. Delon Porcalla and those involved in the publication of the libelous article,” he warned.