MANILA, Philippines — Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has joined the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan on Wednesday.
She took the oath to become a fully-pledged member of the party before PDP-Laban Secretary General and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Before transferring to PDP-Laban, Arroyo was part of the supermajority in the lower house.
She left her longtime party Lakas-CMD alongside former Cabinet members and party-mates: former agriculture chief Rep. Arthur Yap (Bohol), Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin), former agrarian reform chief Nasser Pangandaman and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority chief Raul Lambino.
“My joining the PDP-Laban is to consolidate support for the President. It is a matter of course as we have been talking about this for quite sometime,” Arroyo said in a statement.
She served as the party chairman from 2008 to 2009.
Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Monday said that the ruling PDP-Laban will no longer accept new members by the end of November.
READ: PDP-Laban shutting doors to new members to prepare for 2019