FORMER President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday, October 11, officially joined the administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Arroyo used to be the former leader of Lakas-CMD party.
Arroyo, in a statement, said she joined the ruling party to consolidate her support for President Rodrigo Duterte.
"My joining the PDP-Laban is to consolidate support for the President. It is a matter of course as we have been talking about this for quite some time," Arroyo said.
Arroyo is serving her third and final term as representative of the second district of Pampanga in the House of Representatives.
In July 2016, Arroyo has been released her from hospital detention after the Supreme Court voted for her acquittal from the plunder charge in relation to the alleged misuse of P336-million state lottery funds.
In the 17th Congress, Arroyo was elected House deputy speaker but she was stripped of the position last March after she voted against the death penalty bill, a measure backed by the President Rodrigo Duterte.
Aside from Arroyo, her former Agriculture Secretary and now Bohol Representative Arthur Yap also shifted allegiance to the PDP-Laban.
Arroyo and Yap took their oaths before House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Yap used to be a member of the Nationalist People's Coalition since 2015. He was the Department of Agriculture secretary during Arroyo's stint as president in 2004 up to 2010.
The PDP-Laban now has 124 members.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel earlier said they will no longer accept new members by the end of November as they are already preparing their line-up for the 2019 polls. (VoxPop Philippines)
