Koko names Piñol to key PDP Laban post; inducts new members of ruling party

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol led the new batch of national and local officials who took their oath as new members of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) before Party and Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III recently.

Piñol, former governor of North Cotabato, was named by Pimentel as "point person" of PDP Laban in his home province during simple oath-taking ceremonies, along with Quezon City 5th district Congressman Alfred Vargas and Cavite Vice-Governor Jolo Revilla.

He became the third member of the Cabinet of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, Party Chairman, to officially become a member of PDP Laban after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, designated point person for Quezon province and Energy Secretary Al Cusi, party vice-chairman and point-person for Mimaropa Region.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez (1st district, Davao del Norte) is the party's secretary-general who was responsible for the mass influx of one hundred ten (110) congressmen to PDP Laban to establish a super majority in the House of Representatives (HoR) even as a coalition of seventeen (17) senators composed a majority in the Senate.

Pimentel said many local leaders, among them governors, city and municipal mayors and prominent political leaders, have already expressed their interest to join the PDP Laban which has also started to strengthen its international presence by forging ties with several foreign political parties.

He said new party members are required to undergo a "Basic Membership Seminar" (BMS) during which the party constitution and by-laws, history and platform, among others, are being discussed by party elders and lecturers.

The move to amend the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for the adoption of a federal system of government tops the advocacies of the PDP Laban, said Pimentel, adding that party leaders have been conducting forums nationwide to promote its advantages versus the highly-centralized unitary government.

PDP Laban is the only major political party which espouses the shift to Federalism in its Party Constitution, the Party President said.