The former governor of Albay and considered as one of the country’s brilliant economist and local leader incoming Albay Rep. Joey Salceda has defected to the camp of presumptive president Mayor Rody Duterte but noted that his support for the new administration was a directive from Sen. Grace Poe, the presidential candidate whom he supported during the recently concluded national elections.
Rep. Joey Salceda was seen as one of the political leaders who attended the Wednesday meeting of incoming members of the 17th Congress throwing their support behind incoming Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez who was eyed by Pres. Rody Duterte to be the next speaker of the House of Representatives.
Gov. Joey Salceda was considered as one of the stalwarts of the Liberal Party before the national elections but he later defected to the camp of Sen. Grace Poe and withdrew his support on the candidacy of DILG Sec. Mar Roxas.
Before Salceda’s announcement of throwing his support on Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy, Mayor Rody Duterte already invited the Albay governor to work with him as head of the National Economic and Development Authority once elected as President but the governor clarified that he don’t want the position.
In the latest development in politics, Mayor Duterte eventually won as the next president of the Republic of the Philippines which encouraged some of the country’s politicians to join the camp of Mayor Duterte. In this time around, Rep. Joey Salceda express his intention to work with Mayor Duterte and if given the chance to head NEDA he would accept if there will be an offer for him to work with Mayor Duterte.
The former Albay governor also shared his thoughts on Pres. Duterte’s plans to invite the members of the Communists Party of the Philippines to join the Cabinet and he has nothing wrong with the said plan and even cited an example in the international community wherein the rebels were given the chance to work closely with the national government.
Aside from Rep. Salceda, also seen during the even showing their support for the speakership of Rep. Bebot Alvarez were known political figures such as Rep. Imelda Marcos and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, an ally of VP Binay. According to PDP-Laban there were 62 incoming members of the 17th Congress attended the event to show their support on Alvarez.
