Cracks in the PDP-Laban showing

Alvarez warns vs. recruitment to party in exchange for money

KORONADAL City — Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez cautioned against the rampant recruitment activities of the administration Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in exchange for money.

Alvarez, PDP-Laban’s secretary general who led a mass oath-taking here of some three thousand new party members, said he was informed recruiters have been going to the barangays to enlist new members and charging fees.

He said the “illegal recruiters” were administering oaths and issuing supposed PDP-Laban identification cards, and recruits were promised appointments in the barangays.

Alvarez said some of these recruiters were legitimate PDP-Laban members.

“They are recruiting members without the knowledge of the party leadership. They don’t report how much they charge and earn from these,” he said during the oath-taking ceremony at the South Cotabato Gymnasium and Cultural Center.

Owing to this, Alvarez said the party nationwide is undergoing reorganization.

He said the PDP-Laban leadership decided to implement disciplinary actions on their members who were behind the illegal recruitment schemes.

To address the problem, he said, they issued a memorandum that only authorized top leaders of the party can administer the oaths of new members. Aside from Alvarez, these are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, PDP-Laban president, and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi who is the party’s vice president.

Alvarez said those who took their oaths without the presence of the party’s top three leaders are fake members.

He urged their new members, who underwent basic membership orientation and seminar before taking their oaths, to monitor such activities and warn residents in their respective barangays. (mindanews)

Pimentel says warns 2 party execs, denies Alvarez is ‘persona non grata’

SENATE President Aquilino Martin Pimentel III over the weekend denied that Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has been declared “persona non grata” by the ruling PDP-Laban.

Pimentel is the PDP-Laban’s president while Alvarez is the party’s secretary general.

Pimentel said this after a group led by Rogelio Garcia and Cesar Cuntapay earlier claimed to have a copy of a resolution declaring Alvarez as persona non grata in the PDP-Laban.

Garcia, a former undersecretary of the labor department, is the party’s chairman for Region 12 while Cuntapay is interim PDP-Laban council president for southern Mindanao.

“That group does not represent the party. Whatever their complaints, someone who has expanded the base of PDP-Laban in the House of Representatives from three to 123 members cannot be said to have done or be doing acts inimical to the party. Speaker Alvarez has in fact strengthened the party with quality members and was crucial in the passage of laws that forward the change we in the party advocate,” said Pimentel.

He advised Cuntapay to respect the party’s processes and submit his complaint to PDP-Laban’s arbitration procedure.

Pimentel said, “I will not allow the party my father built to be dragged through the mud because of personal differences among party members. We are working to build a better society and a Federal Philippines. Anyone who describes himself as a loyal party member must respect and obey the party’s by-laws.”

He also ordered Cuntapay: “You are to immediately cease from these actions inimical to the party’s image and morale, or be subject to party discipline.”

Pimentel, while hoping that Cuntapay and Alvarez can mend fences for the good of the party, said he would not hesitate to expel Cuntapay for using the party’s name for personal reasons.

“We can only achieve our goals if we present a united front to the world. By providing ammunition to those who seek to sow divisions within the party, Mr. Cuntapay is harming PDP-Laban, and can be expelled should he so continue with these actions,” said Pimentel.