By Junex Doronio
MANILA — The battle lines are now drawn with the latest entry of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) headed by former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III into the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas composed of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez’s Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) gearing for the 2025 midterm elections.
With this latest development, the NPC bid goodbye to the UniTeam of Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte which was formed in the 2022 national elections.
“Historically, the NPC has always been supportive of the elected President. With urgency, we continue to push for unity among the leaders of our great nation. With that in mind, our party will heed the call of the PFP,” Sotto said of joining the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas at a ceremony in Makati later Saturday (18 May 2024).
“I believe this alliance will foster cooperation and strong support for our President considering our party has almost 4,000 members, of which 1,910 are incumbent public officials,” he added.
Earlier this month, some members of the Nacionalista Party (NP), of which Marcos was a member until October 2021, also welcomed the possibility of an alliance with the PFP.
However, their dilemma was that the Villar political family which holds the NP leadership is seen closer to the Duterte political family which is now openly critical to the President, save for the Vice President who has kept her eerie silence on various issues.
(el Amigo/MNM)
