PDP-Laban to back bet who will continue Duterte’s programs

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) will be endorsing a presidential candidate committed to seeing through an “11-point Agenda for Continuity” aligned with the administration’s “legacy programs.”

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, PDP-Laban faction president, said yesterday that it is important for the ruling party that the candidate it supports to be the next president continues Duterte’s legacy programs of the last five years.

The party enumerated this expectation through an 11-point agenda consisting of promoting peace and order, bolstering national defense and foreign relations, ending the pandemic, sustaining economic growth, job generation, educational reforms, decentralization, federalism, and the campaigns against corruption, poverty and communist rebellion.

“We will only endorse the presidential candidate who is fully committed to the continuity of President Duterte’s programs, advocacies and vision for the Philippines. These are non-negotiable,” Cusi said in a statement.

Cusi was responding to Aksyon Demokratiko standard-bearer and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno’s appeal to earn PDP-Laban’s support.

“I understand why many of our candidates have desired the support and endorsement of President Duterte and the PDP Laban’s, as only our beloved President has maintained very high support from the people, even during the end of his term. His and the party’s endorsement are critical to a candidate’s victory,” Cusi said.

He emphasized that their party’s choice for president should sustain the war on drugs, the intensification of the anti-criminality campaign, maintain the country’s independence from interference of the International Criminal Court, and pursue the internal cleansing of the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Customs.

Cusi reiterated that the PDP-Laban will continue to veer away from “personality-based politics” and move towards politics that is ‘issue-based’ to bring about meaningful change for the country.”

The PDP-Laban is without an official presidential candidate after both its prospective standard-bearers – Sen. Ronald dela Rosa and Sen. Bong Go decided to quit the race shortly after filing their candidacies last year.

The ruling party is fielding a total of 6,592 national and local candidates in the May 9 national and local elections, most of them incumbent governors, congressmen and mayors.