President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to meet next week with members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to address the breakout of factions within the party, his top aide said on Friday.
In a media interview in Tagum, Davao del Norte, Special Assistant to the President Christoper Lawrence “Bong” Go said the President saw the need to settle the row as all the people making up the factions in the party had helped Duterte secure the presidency.
“It was tentatively scheduled next week,” Go told reporters, when asked when Duterte would call a caucus to unite the factions in his party.
“Plano po niyang ipapatawag ang magkaibang faction. Sana mapag-iisa ito ito at lalong palakasin ang partidong nagluklok sa kanya at tumulong sa presidency (The President plans to meet with the different factions. He hopes to unify the factions and to strengthen the party that had helped him secure the presidency),” he added.
Earlier, Go admitted that he and the President were “clueless” about the faction within the party that staged elections last week to replace Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd and Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao del Norte as president and secretary general of the party respectively.
Pimentel had dismissed the actions of the group whose members, he said, had been expelled from PDP-Laban.
He also threatened to take action against those who led the “national assembly.”
“I will relay to the President the concerns aired in this consultative meeting at the PDP-Laban opposition or competition from allied forces,” Pimentel said. “Sabihin ko sa Presidente (I will tell the President), how can we minimize such a situation if you cannot totally avoid it, hindi naman sana buong bansa (it’s not nationwide).”
Go said the President was open to forging an alliance between his local party “Hugpong sa Taong Lungsod” (Alliance of City Residents) and her daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio’s regional party “Hugpong ng Pagbabago” (Alliance for Change).
“It’s almost there. Hugpong ng Pagbabago and Hugpong ng Taong-Lungsod are two parties considered as relatives. That’s a daughter. It does not need a formal alliance. I think it is one entity already,” Go said.
The younger Duterte formed the group in February together with the incumbent governors of Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental and Compostela Valley, all in Southern Mindanao.
Although she has yet to announce if she will run for a Senate seat in 2019, the President’s daughter said her group would support the candidacies of Go and Sen. Cynthia Villar.
Duterte-Carpio earlier said her group was evaluating possible alliances with other political parties.