MANILA, Philippines – The Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) is endorsing the presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
On Tuesday, May 3, LDP chairman and former senator Edgardo Angara said in a statement released to the media, “The LDP has decided to give Mayor Duterte its full and unequivocal support because we believe his platform addresses the core problems of the country, at this crucial juncture in our history.”
He also said, “Mayor Duterte offers the best hope for structural change” and that his peace and prospertiy agenda “directly responds to the plight of the Filipino.”
The LDP was born in 1988 from the merger of Lakas ng Bansa of then Palawan representative and former Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr and Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr’s wing of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan or PDP-Laban. Cojuangco is the uncle of President Benigno Aquino III.
LDP later formed a coalition with former president Fidel V. Ramos’ Lakas-NUCD and then endorsed the presidential candidacy of then vice president Joseph Estrada in 1997. That same year, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo quit the LDP to form her own party, Kampi, her vehicle to the presidency.
Angara also supported the presidential bid in 2010 of Fernando Poe Jr, father of current presidential candidate, Grace Poe. He has opted not to support Poe and instead chose to endorse Duterte, the front-runner in latest presidential preference surveys.
Duterte is running under the banner of PDP-Laban. – Rappler.com