Arroyo remains as Lakas-Kampi chair

Members of the opposition party Lakas-Kampi-CMD have chosen to retain former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as their chairperson despite her reported request to be replaced. "She will stay on as chairman although she said if other people want to be chairman, it’s alright with her," said Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay at the sidelines of a press conference Monday before the regular weekly meeting of the House minority bloc. "So far nobody wants to remove her as chairman so she is still effectively the chairman," Magsaysay added. The party discussed the matter in a meeting held Saturday at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon City.

Mrs. Arroyo, who had earlier expressed her intention to turn over the chairmanship of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, was not present at the press conference. She left the function room and returned only after the reporters left the area. Magsaysay said what they are filling up are the vacant positions for party president and vice president, among others. She said their secretary general, Rey Roquero, also wants to be replaced because he is the party’s executive director. During the meeting, a search committee was formed to choose whom they will nominate for the vacant posts. The choices will be presented to the party in their meeting next month. “There’s a search committee who’s in charge of the nominees and the nominees will be presented to us in a meeting next month. They told us by next month we will be able to know the choices," Magsaysay said in Filipino. She said other agenda for the next meeting are their positions on certain issues, and nominations for the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and the Commission on Appointments (CA). “We all know that they are starting to name names as far as different committees are concerned, including the contentious HRET and CA, which we have to deal with considering that these positions are by party affiliations and it’s not by majority or minority bloc," Magsaysay said. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV