MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting with the warring factions of his political party PDP-Laban will take place Thursday, Malacañang confirmed.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing the President “wants to unify the party and he will clarify that he remains chairman of the party.”

Duterte’s top aide last week confirmed that the President will call a caucus to address the factions within his political party.

• Duterte to meet, try to unite PDP-Laban factions, says top aide

The rift between the two factions widened after a faction of the PDP-Laban led by a Rogelio Garcia replaced party president, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, and elected their own set of leaders.

Former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was also replaced as secretary-general during a “national assembly” in Quezon City last July 27. Go, meanwhile, was elected as the party’s national auditor.

Senator Pimentel dismissed the actions of the group whose members, he said, have already been expelled from PDP-Laban. He also threatened to file actions against those who led the "national assembly."

Garcia’s camp has accused the Pimentel-led faction of violating the party’s rules by holding mass oath-taking of new party members who did not undergo seminar.