Reunification in the offing?

If he sensed it right, Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino revealed possible reunification of the forces of key stalwarts of the fractious Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). It is not certain though if this is either a slip of the tongue or wishful thinking of Tolentino. After all, the senator is the incumbent PDP-Laban vice president for Luzon.

Still fresh from his semi-official trip to the United States last week, Tolentino disclosed having heard about talks of “reunification” among his PDP-Laban partymates. Tolentino casually mentioned this at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday when asked to comment on the latest defections of PDP-Laban congressmen who jumped over to the Lakas-Christian-Muslim Democrats (CMD).

“We are actually five, soon with Sen. Koko,” Tolentino cited, referring to Senate minority leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel lll.

“I heard about reunification,” he quipped. He, however, refused to elaborate, except to run down the names of senators belonging to PDP-Laban. Tolentino’s fellow PDP-Laban partymates at the Senate include Senators Christopher “Bong” Go, Ronald dela Rosa and Robinhood Padilla. Dela Rosa is the vice president for Mindanao while Go is auditor of the party.

Pimentel though dismissed anew the leadership election conducted by Duterte’s group as a farce. “The original PDP-Laban does not recognize any unauthorized election. We have our own set of party officers,” Pimentel touted.

Currently divided into two factions, the PDP-Laban used to be the party juggernaut in Congress during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was then their nominal chieftain. The other faction is led by Sen. Koko whose late namesake father, ex-Senate president Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., and the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. were the founding fathers of the PDP-Laban.

Just last Dec.16, ex-president Duterte flew to Manila to celebrate the Christmas party with the remaining officers and members of the PDP-Laban. In its official social media page, the PDP-Laban showed photos of their year-end gathering and oath taking of new officers held in Taguig City.

Led by ex-president Duterte and Palawan Rep. Pepito Alvarez as the incumbent party president, it declared: “…the PDP-Laban remains committed to continuing the noble cause of progress and positive change for the Filipino people.” In same social media post, the PDP-Laban stated their gathering “showed that we stand united as one party despite challenges to the political landscape in the country.”

The PDP-Laban members renewed their party oath and vowed to commit to “a peaceful and democratic way of life to ensure the establishment and maintenance of a Filipino society characterized by freedom, solidarity, justice, equity, social responsibility, self-reliance, efficiency, enlightened nationalism under a federal system of government.”

The PDP-Laban got split into two factions last year over conflicting choice of presidential standard-bearer of the party. The Commission on Elections eventually recognized Cusi’s wing as the “true and official members” of PDP-Laban. Pimentel’s faction appealed the poll body’s decision.

Senator Koko went ahead with endorsing Sen. Manny Pacquiao as the PDP-Laban official candidate. The faction headed by Alfonso Cusi, who was then the energy secretary of Mr. Duterte, originally wanted Mayor Sara Duterte but she declined to be the administration party’s presidential standard-bearer.

The PDP-Laban eventually backed the presidential and vice presidential bids of candidates Marcos and then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, respectively. The Lakas-CMD headed by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez later inducted Mayor Sara as the chairperson of the party. And the rest, as we say, is history.

The ranks of the PDP-Laban, however, have been shrinking the past few weeks due to defections. Ironically, the defectors, mostly coming from the 19th Congress, did not join the party in power, which is the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM). The Partido Federal carried PBBM as its standard bearer during the May 2022 presidential elections.

Just last November, PBBM swore in Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos as his latest PFP partymate, along with nine members of the House of Representatives. Among those joining the Abalos political clan at the PFP were, namely, Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez, his wife Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Marie Torres-Gomez and Senator Raffy Tulfo’s son, Congressman Ralph Tulfo.

The namesake father and wife of the DILG Secretary, Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Carmelita Aguilar-Abalos, Mandaluyong City mayor and vice mayor, respectively, were among the 22 local government officials who also officially joined the PFP. The entire Mandaluyong City Council led by Councillor Benjamin Abalos III and Charisse Abalos also took their oaths as PFP members.

Like the PDP-Laban, the PFP’s platform of government espouses the advocacy to replace the Philippines’ unitary system of government with a federalist government. Formed in 2018, the PFP has become the national political party of PBBM now that he holds the highest elected office of the land.

But still many of the PDP-Laban congressmen instead defected to the Lakas-CMD. As of this writing, Speaker Romualdez had sworn in 87 new Lakas-CMD members at the Lower House.

Obviously, the ongoing defections are the continuing offshoot of the growing friction between the camps of the Speaker and the Dutertes.

VP Sara resigned in May this year from the Lakas-CMD, citing “execrable political power play.” Her resignation came following the reorganization of key positions in the House of Representatives, where Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, one of the stalwarts of Lakas-CMD, was removed from her post as Senior Deputy Speaker.

The feud spun out of control, with the VP’s “tambaloslos” dig to her un-identified foe, who she christened after a fictional villainous folklore character.

This feud may, however, augur well for PDP-Laban reunification to close ranks again.