Quezon 2nd district Rep. David "Jay-jay" Suarez (PPAB)

Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) spokesman, Quezon 2nd district Rep. David "Jay-jay" Suarez has laid down the prerequisites for the political party to coalesce with other parties, and these include supporting Speaker Martin Romualdez "110 percent". 

Suarez gave this response during a press conference Monday, May 6, wherein he was asked whether or not Lakas-CMD was willing to form an alliance with the Vice President Sara Duterte-founded Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) in line with the May 2025 midterm polls. 

Romualdez is the president of Lakas-CMD, the dominant party in the House of Representatives. He is also arguably the top lieutenant of President Marcos in the legislature, if not the entire bureaucracy. 

"Of course I don't want to speak on behalf of Lakas because we haven't taken this up in execom or as party matters," Suarez, a deputy speaker in the House, said in relation to the question on HNP. 

"We're not closing our doors to any opportunity, we're not closing our doors to any alliance for as long as we're basing our alliances on shared common ideals," noted Suarez. 

"So yun po yung pinaka-mahakaga doon (That is the most important part there), shared common ideals. Especially when it comes to the policy directives of our President, which we have to support 100 percent, unequivocal yun (that's unequivocal)," he said. 

Suarez added: "At syempre po yung posisyon po ng leader namin dito sa Kongreso, na si Speaker Martin Romualdez has to be 110 percent support din." 

(And of course there must also be 110 percent support to the position of our leader here in Comgress, Speaker Martin Romualdez. 

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https://mb.com.ph/2023/7/27/speaker-romualdez-breaks-silence-on-rift-with-vp-duterte

At any rate, Suarez revealed in the same presser that Lakas-CMD will formalize its alliance with President Marcos' party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), this coming Wednesday, May 8. Marcos chairs PFP. 

"Our focus of course is establishing an alliance with PFP which would be done on Wednesday, and strengthening our position for 2025 by further cooperating and collaborating with all the national political parties such NPC (Nationlist People’s Coalition), NUP (National Unity Party), NP (Nacionalista Party), and of course...Aksyon Demokratiko," he said. 

HNP is a regional party from Mindanao that was formed in 2018 to support the then-presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, the incumbent Vice President's father.