The national assembly held by the camp of Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, III where Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao was declared as the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban’s (PDP-Laban) standard bearer in the May 2022 elections is illegal, the rival camp said.
“Yes that is illegal, because they did not follow the process,” said Melvin Matibag, secretary general of the PDP-Laban that belonged to the camp of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
“Under our processes, it’s always the chairman of the party who can call for a national assembly, and that is President Duterte,” Matibag further said during a virtual interview.
Cusi’s camp is endorsing Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go and President Duterte as their tandem in the upcoming May polls. The group recognizes Duterte as their party chairman.
Pacquiao's camp, on the other hand, elected Pimentel as the PDP-Laban Party chairman recently.
Matibag also claimed that their faction is not at all surprised of Pacquiao’s declaration he would run for president in next year’s elections since he has since been gunning for the position.
“Nadagdagan pa nga po 'yan ng paniwala ni Sen. Pacquiao na kinausap siya ng Diyos at siya ang anointed one para maging presidente (It was even bolstered by Pacquiao’s belief that God has spoken to him and he is the anointed one to become president),” he also said.
“So mahirap naman pong pigilan 'yun. Yun naman po ay pangarap niya (So that is difficult to stop. That is his dream),” he noted.
The party official said they could only hope that “it would not end as a tragedy” for Pacquiao and Pimentel in the end.
On Sunday, September 19, Pacquiao accepted the nomination of the PDP-Laban led by Pimentel to be the party’s presidential candidate.
In his acceptance speech, Pacquiao said he is “rising up to the challenge of leadership” as the people are already tired of unfulfilled promises of the present administration.
He also vowed to fight corruption and would send to jail government officials who are corrupt.
“Your time is up! Binigyan namin kayo ng pagkakataon, nguni’t kami ay inyong binigo. Naghintay po kami ng mahabang panahon, ilang dekada na ang lumipas...pero wala ding nangyari (we gave you all the chance to change but you failed us. We waited for a long time. Decades have passed but nothing has changed),” he said.