"Original" members and chapters of the Partido Demokratiko ng Pilipinas-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) are supposedly still standing behind Senator Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao.
This was according to the camp of Pacquiao and Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, in apparent response to the removal of the former as the PDP-Laban president on Saturday, July 17.
During the PDP-Laban's national assembly, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi was elected as Pacquiao's replacement -- a move clearly supported by President Duterte, the party's chairman.
"Thousands of bona fide and original grassroots members of PDP-Laban strongly denounced personalities, party officials, who are behind the party’s purported national assembly in Clark, Pampanga," read the statement issued by Pacquiao and Pimentel's camp.
The members, it said, also called the election of new PDP-Laban officers as "farce, illegal and not sanctioned by the general membership."
As the more popular PDP-Laban members gathered in Clark, Pampanga, the group of Pimentel and Pacquiao also held on Friday, July 16, a virtual assembly of "over 100 PDP-Laban chapters nationwide".
During their own assembly, members from the grassroots supposedly insisted that "all party officials are elected by the party’s general membership, and not by a few politicians who are not even full-fledged party members."
They also said that all the actions made during the "illegal" assembly in Pampanga "have no force and effect" over the party, since it was not sanctioned by Pacquiao.
Both Pacquiao and Pimentel have refused to recognize the national assembly, with the former even warning to suspend or expel members who would attend Saturday's event.
In his message to the group, Pimentel appealed for continued support for Pacquiao's leadership of the party.
"Huwag po tayong mag-alala kasi ang talaga ipinaglalaban namin dito ay 'yong boses po ng ating mga chapter members sa buong bansa, lalo na 'yong matagal nang kasama namin sa PDP-Laban (Don't worry because we are advocating for the voice of chapter members all over the country, especially those who have in the PDP-Laban for so long)” he also assured.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, said that he will not tolerate "vested interests" within the party.
"They might underestimated me, pero hindi nila alam ano 'yong pag-iisip ko (they don't know what I'm thinking)," he said.
"Mas maganda 'yan ina-underestimate nila ako kasi from the beginning naman, sa buhay ko, in my experience, kaya nga hindi ako naging Philippine team sa amateur kasi minamaliit din ako noong araw (It's good, anyway, that they are underestimating me, because that was how I was being treated from the beginning, in my experience, that's why I was not a part of the Philippine team because they were belittling me)," the boxing champion also recalled.
"Thank you your support and loyalty to the party," Pacquio told his group.
Pacquiao previously said he will call for his own national assembly in September. Pimentel said that in the upcoming convention, they will also firm up their position on PDP-Laban's standard bearer for the 2022 elections.