Arroyo to step down as party president
Posted on November 6th, 2009
Talks has it that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be stepping down as president of the merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD party in order to boost the presidential bid of administration candidate Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro, Jr. The news was confirmed by Pampanga first district Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, who said Arroyo disclosed her plan during a closed-door meeting at the Fontana Convention Center.
“She said she felt she was not contributing positively to the candidacy of Teodoro so it would be better for her to resign and give way to younger leaders,” Lazatin said.
The meeting, which lasted about an hour, was also attended to by Malacañang External Affairs Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan and Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales. It was held after the opening of the 3-day 2nd National Information and Communication Technology Confederation of the Philippines at Fontana, where President Arroyo was the guest speaker.
According to Lazatin, Morales and Pamintuan tried to discourage Arroyo from resigning as party president but it seems they have failed. For his part, he said, “I am prepared to respect and support whatever the decision of the President is.”
The president however did not mention who she wanted to take over her post as party president, but Lazatin believed that it would be former Rep. Prospero Pichay who now heads the Local Water Utilities Administration, who’ll be most likely to take the post. Pichay was said to frequently accompany Arroyo lately in her numerous sorties in Pampanga.
The Lakas-Kampi-CMD executive committee was initially scheduled to meet on November 19. However, there were reports that the committee would meet on November 11 instead, where the President would be announcing her decision to resign her position as party president. She would then remain with the merged party as an ordinary member, said Lazatin.
Arroyo’s political plans however were not discussed during the meeting, although Lazatin said that some months ago, some of his colleagues in Congress were mapping out plans for her to run for Congress.
