Duterte presidency boosts PDP-Laban stock in House of Representatives

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s political party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan, has seen its membership swell exponentially after his victory in the May 9 elections became clear.

From having only three stalwarts in the incoming 17th Congress— incoming Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Valenzuela Rep. Erik Martinez and Lanao del Sur Rep. Jun Papandayan— PDP-Laban now counts at least 61 lawmakers from various political affiliations as members.

The defection of several lawmakers to PDP-Laban has helped Alvarez cobble together a supermajority coalition before the next Congress starts on July 25.

The bloc, which counts over 200 legislators as members, is expected to push for the swift passage of Duterte’s priority bills, such as the reinstatement of death penalty, the shift to a federal form of government and the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility for juveniles.

Aside from their own political plans, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said consideration for their constituents prompt lawmakers to change political alliances. He said several of his colleagues naturally want to be as close to the administration as possible for the sake of their districts.

At present, LP still comprises a sizeable portion of lawmakers in the incoming 17th Congress with at least 70 stalwarts. The party had 115 members in the 16th Congress.

With the LP’s exception, other major political parties have seen minimal change in the number of their members over the past few weeks, owing to the alliance they have forged with PDP-Laban.

The membership of the Nationalist People’s Coalition went down from 41 to 37; the National Unity Party from 23 to 20; the United Nationalist Alliance from 10 to 9.

The Nacionalista Party, which was the first to ink a coalition agreement with PDP-Laban, saw one addition to its ranks which boosted the number of members it has to 25.

The number of lawmakers belonging to the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino remain unchanged at 4 and 2, respectively.

Meanwhile, the party-list coalition, itself a formidable bloc, counts 59 lawmakers as members.

With less than a month left before the 17th Congress starts, more political movements are seen to happen especially since the LP has yet to come to an agreement with PDP-Laban regarding a possible alliance.

Belmonte, LP’s vice chair, said there has been a proposal to further whittle his party’s membership down to 20 before it is accepted as part of the supermajority coalition.

Given the extraordinary prerequisite for LP’s entry into the majority bloc, the Speaker is taking time to decide on forging an alliance with PDP-Laban.

“If we become at least at par with the other groups, it’s a real option for me to be the head of the LP members who would be part of the coalition,” he said. -NB, GMA News