Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Wednesday, August 25, rejected Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s attempt to tag him as the cause of the infighting within the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban), saying he never blamed “an outsider” in the issues hounding the ruling political party.
“I don’t know why I am being ‘referred to’ in paragraph 3. Look at all my statements regarding the PDP-Laban issue,” Pimentel said in a statement.
“I have been addressing my comments to (Energy) Secretary (Alfonso) Cusi and sometimes to Atty. (Melvin) Matibag. This is an ‘internal’ dispute,” he added.
“I never dragged an outsider into our internal dispute or blamed an outsider for the internal dispute or for causing the internal dispute,” the senator further pointed out.
Pimentel reiterated that those who caused the infighting within the political party were all within the circle.
“Our internal dispute has been caused by someone from the inside. That an outsider is being considered as the presidential candidate by an insider is not the fault of the person being mentioned but the fault of the insider who lacks faith, confidence and loyalty to his Party and the talent and skills of the party members,” the lawmaker further pointed out.
Duterte-Carpio earlier criticized Pimentel in the fiasco surrounding the tandem of Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and President Duterte, which is being supported by the faction of Energy Secretary Cusi. Pimentel, on the other hand, is supporting the possible presidential bid of Sen. Manny Pacquiao.
Pimentel's group accused the camp of Cusi of using the Go-Duterte tandem as a "smokescreen" and will later on support the presidential candidacy of Duterte-Carpio.
The Davao City mayor said his father and Go are the ones running in tandem for the upcoming May 2022 national elections.
In her statement, Duterte-Carpio said Pimentel and his allies should stop blaming her for the sad state of their political party.
“It is not my fault that no one among you is a leader worthy of the respect of the majority. Do not blame me for the sitcom that your party has been reduced to,” Duterte-Carpio said.
Pimentel is the son of former Senate President Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr., co-founder of PDP-Laban.