Expect changes in ruling party PDP-Laban with Gloria as Speaker, stalwart says

The ruling party PDP-Laban may soon undergo a reorganization following the leadership changes in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles, a PDP-Laban stalwart, made the remark on Tuesday, a day after the party's secretary general, Davao Del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez, was removed from House speakership.

A couple of months back in the Senate, PDP-Laban president Senator Aquilino Pimentel III relinquished the Senate presidency to Senator Vicente Sotto III, a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition.

"Magkakaroon ng reorganization ang PDP-Laban, sigurado yan," Nograles told reporters in an ambush interview.

In a session after Duterte's third State of the Nation Address on Monday, House members approved to declare vacant the position of Speaker.

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was then elected as the new Speaker.

Both Alvarez and Arroyo, however, are members of PDP-Laban, as the latter in October last year took oath as one of its new members, leaving her former party Lakas-KAMPI-CMD.

Arroyo has since vowed to continuously support the President.

"Because of the reorganization of the House leaders who are also members of the PDP-Laban, coincidentally, obviously the party will also have to undergo its own reorganization," Nograles said.

"That's the natural consequence of what happened yesterday," he added.

Pimentel, however, said only the party's leadership could make decisions for the party, including a possible reorganization.

"Wait for party leadership to announce something," Pimentel said in a text message to reporters.

"[The] event just happened yesterday. It was sudden. Hence, allow us to take stock of the situation," he added.

Duterte serves as chairman of PDP-Laban, while Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is the vice chairman. —NB, GMA News