Malacañang said President Rodrigo Duterte, chairman PDP-Laban party on Monday, skipped the meeting of his party in Cebu because of a full schedule.
Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte has matters to attend to, including the COVID-19 pandemic policies.
“While he is the chairman of the party, hindi naman puwede diktahan ni Presidente ang partido [the President cannot dictate on the party],” Roque said in a press briefing.
“He (President) signed a memo authorizing Secretary [Alfonso] Cusi to call the meeting today, and he made me announce it yesterday. He has a full schedule in the Palace this afternoon. He is fully booked,” Roque added.
This is followed by PDP-Laban President and Senator Manny Pacquiao’s call to ignore Cusi’s call for a party meeting.
Roque said Duterte would meet with Cebu governor Gwen Garcia on the decision regarding the testing policies for returning OFWs. He will also meet with the Inter-Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases for the new quarantine classifications.
“It is already May 31, so there will be an announcement of quarantine classifications for June,” Roque said.
Duterte skips PDP-Laban assembly – Palace
Roque said the supposed PDP-Laban meeting would discuss the accomplishments of the Duterte administration. “There will be a report on the gains of the President,” he said.
Last week, many PDP-Laban members poured support for Sen. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao to become their party president, at the same time as they denied a manifesto signed by the so-called ‘ten-man wrecking crew’ that allegedly aimed to weaken the top leadership of the PDP-Laban.
In their own manifesto signed by hundreds of long-time and card-bearing PDP-Laban Bulacan members, they strongly denounced some of their members’ recent statements and lack of proper coordination with the party body.
The signatories said they were not invited to the meeting, which they said resulted in drafting a manifesto expressing ‘strong opposition’ to Pacquiao’s alleged critical stance against President Duterte’s position on the West Philippine Sea issue. They also downplayed the status of Pacquiao’s critics as ‘newcomers’ to the party.
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