Puno denies rift within Kampi

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno yesterday denied reports of an internal rift in the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), specifically between him and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte.

“That’s not true,” said Puno of the reported conflict between him, Kampi chair, and Villafuerte, party president.

Puno also maintained that the merging of Kampi and Lakas is an ongoing process.

“Kami-kami dito wala nang problema (We don’t have any problem here). The Kampi and Lakas merging has long been decided already on the national level. It doesn’t make sense if we merge here at the top and the people on the local level are fighting,” he said.

Puno mentioned, in particular, the cases in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Southern Mindanao (Region 11).

“The process is ongoing. Our status today is that we are aligned with them (Lakas) together with the administration; the only thing lacking is the official merging. What we’re trying to patch up is the legal (aspect). That’s more legal than political,” he added.

He said the misunderstanding between him and Villafuerte has been ironed out, but also noted that there were some issues that he was not a part of.

“There are some issues that I’m not a part of, issues like the alleged move to oust Speaker Prospero Nograles. First, the Speaker is a personal friend; second, I am not a congressman, I could not be involved there. I can honestly say that I was never a party to a single conversation on the alleged move to oust the Speaker,” said Puno.