The Philippine Online Chronicles

House Speaker Prospero Nograles said yesterday that he will not be resigning from administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD, but he warned party standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro that he and his supporters were dissatisfied with the presidentiable’s leadership and that Teodoro must “shape up or ship out.”

“Enough is enough. Gibo must shape up – address the grievances of Lakas members, recover their confidence, motivate the party - or he (Teodoro) ships out of the party,” he said. “Lakas-Kampi is in total disarray contrary to what is being bandied about in the media. Congressmen, governors and mayors no longer know who to talk to about their concerns, grievances.”

Nograles said that Gibo had not been giving “political importance” to the senior members of the party.

“Even as a senior officer of the party, I hardly know what’s happening because they make decisions without the courtesy of even briefing us,” Nograles said.  “Gibo even went to Davao without the courtesy of informing us about their presence and only decided to inform me when they needed to mobilize for their activities.”

He added that it was wrong for Teodoro to resign as head of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, which the presidentiable had previously said was so that he could focus on his campaign.

“Gibo abandoned the party chairmanship at the most crucial hour - the start of the local campaign,” Nograles said. “When he was being looked up to as the leader who would marshal Lakas candidates in the local members, Gibo chose to resign as chairman.”

Nograles warned that the result could be a schism within the administration party.

“Disgruntled members of Lakas—congressmen, governors, and mayor—might decide to form a faction and adopt another presidential candidate. Worse, these disgruntled Lakas members could force an assembly and vote as a party to adopt another presidential candidate,” he said.

“That seems to be the feedback I’m getting on the ground. But they are still considering their political options. We may know by the end of the week as they are now conducting consultations with their local leaders.”

Nonetheless, Nograles expressed hope that Gibo could still “shape up” to the challenge.

“A reformed Gibo could regroup Lakas so he could utilize the party’s underutilized potential as the country’s biggest political party with the most number of elected officials,” he said.