TWO newly elected congressmen under the Liberal Party (LP) in Cebu are open to a possible alliance with the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.
Cebu second district Rep. Wilfredo Caminero said it would not be surprising for LP members to jump ship and join PDP-Laban.
“That is the direction of the Visayan bloc (in Congress), so they will not be isolated. But the way I understand it, the Visayan bloc will remain as is. It will remain with LP,” Caminero told Cebu Daily News over the phone.
Caminero, who is on vacation outside the country, said he has been receiving updates through text messages from his fellow representatives.
Personally, he said he was open to an alliance with PDP-Laban because this would let the incoming administration carry out its vision without objections from other parties.
“This will create unity within the House,” he said.
Another LP member, Cebu Provincial Board Member Peter John Calderon who has been elected as congressman representing the newly created seventh district, said an alliance with PDP-Laban is very much “a possibility.”
Nothing has been finalized, though, they said.
Both Caminero and Calderon said they still have to confer with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, LP provincial chairman, and with their fellow representatives.
Among the LP congressmen from Cebu are Caminero (2nd district), Calderon (7th district), and outgoing Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes (6th district).
Davide is still on leave, but LP Cebu coordinator Ramil Abing said the governor would like to meet with LP Cebu congressmen regarding the matter.
Davide, who will be back from Osaka, Japan on May 28, earlier said he would cooperate with the President and support his administration, but did not mention an alliance.
At least 80 LP members elected to the House of Representatives have reportedly joined the Duterte party while major political parties Nacionalista Party (NP) and National People’s Coalition (NPC) have forged alliances with PDP-Laban.
Tuburan Mayor Democrito Diamante, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), said he has not received reports about his fellow LP mayors joining PDP-Laban. But he said it was likely to happen.
A total of 22 LP members who ran for city or town mayor in Cebu won. Fourteen LP allies won in the first and fifth districts.