The Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban) faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is not worried about the competition between their tandem in the May 2022 national elections and the group of Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno and Dr. Willie Ong.
Melvin Matibag, secretary general of the PDP-Laban faction, said their group is looking at its own strengths and weaknesses to assess the winnability of a Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and President Duterte tandem.
“We are not thinking about the weaknesses or strength or our opponents in the May 2022. We are looking at our own strength and weaknesses,” Matibag said in an online press briefing.
“We will harness whatever strengths, whatever our weaknesses. We will address it so that we can increase our chances of victory in the coming elections,” he said.
At the same time, the group lauded the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for acting on their petition to stop Senators Manny Pacquiao and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III from representing themselves as officials of PDP-Laban.
In a two-page order dated 22 September 2021 and signed by Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abbas, the poll body directed the respondents to file their answer to the petition filed by Cusi’s wing.
Matibag said an early resolution of the petition would give their candidates “peace of mind” that they would be running under the legitimate PDP-Laban.
In a related development, the PDP-Laban on Thursday afternoon announced the formal signing of an alliance with the national party Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan (PDDS) of Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica.
Belgica is part of the senatorial line-up of the PDP-Laban Cusi wing.
“Remember that we had announced the inclusion of Chairman Belgica in our senatorial ticket. So we decided to enter into an alliance agreement with his PDDS, which also espouses federalism like PDP Laban,” Matibag said.