HEADLINE | Vice President Sara Duterte quits Lakas-CMD Party
SOLON SAYS POSITIONING FOR 2028 POLLS HAS ALREADY STARTED
Lagman believes Sara’s party resignation linked to Arroyo ouster
FILE PHOTO: Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER FILES
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MANILA, Philippines —Opposition leader and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman said that the removal of former president and now Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from her senior deputy speaker role and Vice President Sara Duterte’s resignation from Lakas-CMD are linked
In a statement on Friday, Lagman said the recent events involving the administration’s allies also show that the positioning for the 2028 presidential polls has started already.
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(UPDATE) VICE President Sara Duterte on Friday announced her resignation as a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party.
In her statement, Duterte did not state the reason for quitting the party, but said she was grateful to the party’s members for their support.
She said she will remain committed to serving the people and the country under the leadership of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
As running mates under Lakas’ banner, Marcos and Duterte won the 2022 presidential and vice presidential elections convincingly.
Memento Maxima Digital MarketingSara exits ruling party; GMA denies House ‘coup’
THOSE WERE THE (RECRUITMENT) DAYS Then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte is sworn in as a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party on Nov. 11, 2021, with then House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez (left) administering the oath and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., the party chair, as witness. —FILE PHOTO FROM THE OFFICE OF LEYTE REP. AND NO
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Vice President Sara Duterte on Friday parted ways with the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party in an unexpected move seen setting off the first major political tremor in President Marcos’ year-old administration.
Duterte’s decision to leave Lakas-CMD, where she served as cochair, followed the sudden demotion of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a House leader on Thursday.
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“Trust that my word, my commitment will be immutable,” the vice president said.
She said she was elected because of the trust given by the people to serve in the country, and this should not be “poisoned by political toxicity or undermined by execrable political powerplay.”
Her resignation comes days after Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was demoted from the House of Representatives’ senior deputy speaker to deputy speaker.
Arroyo, a former president, was replaced by fellow Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Rumors abound that Arroyo was plotting to unseat Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, who is the party president, as speaker.
Arroyo, the Lakas-CMD president emerita, is said to be instrumental in convincing Sara Duterte to run as vice president under the party.
She was named chairman of Lakas-CMD in December 2021 by Romualdez and party co-chairman Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. during the wedding of one of Revilla’s daughters.
Later, Duterte substituted for a certain Lyle Uy, who filed his certificate of candidacy for vice president in the 2022 elections.
It is not known if Sara would remain as chairman of her indigenous party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which coalesced with Lakas-CMD in the run-up to the elections.
In Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, President Marcos on Friday said Duterte left Lakas-CMD because she “has too much work to do.”
“It’s exactly as she says. Alam mo naman si Inday Sara (You know Inday Sara), she’s very plain-spoken. Kung ano yung sinabi niya, ‘yun ang ibig sabihin n’ya (She means what she says). She has too much work to do. She cannot be involved in any of this, she cannot allow herself to be distracted, that’s the way I read it,” Marcos told reporters after attending the inauguration of a wind farm in Pagudpud.
He said the vice president must “concentrate” on her duties as Education secretary and co-vice chairman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac).
“Kung titingnan mo kung ano ‘yung mga hinaharap niya, talagang marami talaga at hindi siya pwede to be (If you will see what she has to deal with, she has a lot of work to do and she cannot be) involved in whatever it is that’s going on, she has to concentrate on her job,” the President said.
In a statement issued Friday, Lakas-CMD said that it “respected” Duterte’s decision to leave the party and supported her call to its members to continue supporting President Marcos.
The statement was issued through Lakas-CMD Secretary-General Jose Aquino 2nd.
“As we respect her decision, we understand her reason for leaving the political party,” Lakas said.
Duterte was the mayor of Davao City when she joined Lakas-CMD barely hours after leaving Hugpong ng Pagbabago on Nov. 11, 2021.
Lakas-CMD has 71 members in the House, making it part of the supermajority coalition led by Romualdez.
Revilla said Lakas-CMD continues to be united and supportive of the leadership of President Marcos under the stewardship of Romualdez.
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Romualdez is a first cousin of Marcos and a close ally of Arroyo.
Revilla also said Lakas-CMD continues to be the country’s dominant party.
“Our decades-long solidarity has witnessed and endured many trials which only strengthened our bond that is founded on our shared passion to serve our nation. Through the darkest of storms and greatest of tribulations, we have proven time and again that our unity will never be torn down,” he said in a statement.
“Pinagtibay at pinagbigkis ang samahang ito ng pagsasama at pag-uunawaang hinubog at pinanday ng panahon. Sinubok pero hindi nawasak, bagkus ay palakas pa ng palakas (The party was organized by a time-tested unity and understanding. It was challenged, but it was never torn down. It became stronger and stronger),” Revilla said.
Liberal Party President and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said that even before the 2025 midterm elections, the positioning and competition for the 2028 presidential elections had begun.
“The stripping of Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of her Senior Deputy Speaker position and the subsequent resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from the ruling Lakas-CMD party are obviously related,” Lagman said.
He said Arroyo and Duterte “were the principal conspirators in the ouster of then-Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and the ascendancy of Arroyo as Speaker in 2018.”
“The power play and intramurals in Lakas may result in further resignations by Arroyo and Duterte loyalists. These political developments will have repercussions in the revamp of the Marcos cabinet,” Lagman said.
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