The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban), the country’s ruling Party, celebrated its 36th anniversary at The Peninsula Manila in Makati City in an affair graced by some of the country’s highest officials.
Senate President Koko Pimentel III, the Party’s President, along with Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, the Party’s Secretary General and Vice Chairman, respectively, led over 200 members of the Party in the celebration.
“We are now the ruling party in the Philippines where we are building a society which provides a comfortable, fair, and safe life for all Filipinos”, said Pimentel in his State of the Party Address during the event.
Pimentel enumerated six promises made by the Party which are now fulfilled: all-out war against drugs and corruption, lower income tax, increased pay for military and uniformed personnel, free irrigation, free tuition, and an independent foreign policy.
As part of the Party’s support for Duterte’s independent foreign policy, it established party-to-party relations with United Russia and the Communist Party of China (CPC), with PDP Laban celebrating the 1st Anniversary of its Cooperation Agreement with the latter at the same time as the Party’s founding anniversary.
Pimentel also discussed the three promises that the Party is now working to fulfill: peace in Mindanao through the Bangsamoro Basic Law, an end to endo, and Federalism.
The Party President said, “Nine promises, six already fulfilled, all done within one year and a half (1½) of a six-year term! What a way to start a term! We did it because of team work. This is what we can deliver because our Team is united, not by personalities, but by ideology. We are all moving in the same direction, guided by common principles.”
Pimentel also reminded the gathered Party members of the origins of the country’s largest political party. Pimentel said, “Our Party began with a handful of members which grew to 600 in its very first assembly in 1982. PDP Laban began as a “non-traditional party” with some “unusual” fundamental principles like belief in God and belief in the dignity of the human being.”
The Senate leader added that despite the Party now having control of the executive and legislative branches, it remained the same “non-traditional party”, as its objectives and guiding principles have remained the same.
PDP Laban’s ideology is based on its guiding principles of theism, humanism, enlightened nationalism, democratic socialism, consultative and participatory democracy, and Federalism.
In his speech, Pimentel thanked the Party Chairman, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, for “for the strong and visionary leadership he is providing for our country.”
Pimentel also called Duterte “the best recruiter to our Party.” The Party’s leader then thanked Alvarez for building the Party in Congress, where it now has 122 members, and the latter’s role in recruiting in the grassroots.
Pimentel highlighted the role of Cusi as the Party’s organizer and head of discipline, assuring the quality of the Party’s membership.
The Party leader also thanked the cadres of the Party, who led the basic membership seminars, training, and recruitment in the grassroots.
The anniversary event was attended by a delegation from the Communist Party of China, led by Vice Minister Guo Yezhou, as part of the concurrent celebration of the anniversary of the agreement between PDP Laban and the CPC.
