The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has automatically expelled Senator Manny Pacquiao from the party after he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) under the Progressive Movement for the Devolution of Initiatives or PROMDI last Friday, October 1.
Melvin Matibag, the party’s Secretary General said the PDP-Laban National Executive Committee met on October 1, and a resolution was approved automatically expelling Pacquiao from the party since under Section 6, Article VII of their constitution states that a filing by a member of a COC under another political party is a ground for automatic expulsion from PDP-Laban.
Pacquiao and his ally Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III have refused to consider Cusi’s camp as legitimate. Pacquiao is running for president in the May 2022 elections, but Cusi’s camp is supporting a supposedly Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go and President Duterte tandem.
But on Saturday, Oct. 2, Go filed his COC as PDP-Laban’s vice presidential candidate, while Duterte announced he is retiring from politics.
“Senator Pacquiao claims that he is the legitimate President of PDP Laban and even called his own National Assembly where he accepted their so-called proclamation as presidential candidate and yet he is running for president under PROMDI. Let’s call a spade a spade. If that is not disloyalty, betrayal, and abandonment of PDP Laban, I don’t know what is,” said Atty. Matibag.
Matibag said that what he predicted as an ongoing teleserye for Pacquiao’s candidacy has now become a reality.
“From the ouster of President Duterte as party chairman, that was a comedy. The proclamation of Sen. Pacquiao, that’s drama. And now it had ended up as a tragedy—when he bailed out of PDP Laban to run under PROMDI,” he said.
Matibag said Pacquiao’s actions only proves that he and Pimentel are illegitimate representatives of the ruling political party.
“Dito na makikita ng taong bayan na sila Sen. Pacquiao at Sen. Pimentel ay hindi talaga tumatalima sa Constitution ng PDP Laban at isinasantabi o ibinabasura lang ang boses ng nakakarami at totoong miyembro ng PDP Laban (This only shows that Senators Pacquiao and Pimentel are not following the PDP-Laban’s constitution or are not heeding the voice of the majority of the members of PDP-Laban),” he added.
“Bakit nya iiwanan ang PDP Laban kung tunay na libo-libo ang kanyang mga taga-suporta sa Partido (Why will he leave the PDP-Laban if it’s true he has thousands of supporters in the party)?” he pointed out.
Because of their actions, the Cusi-led faction is confident that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will rule in favor of their petition seeking to declare Pacquiao and Pimentel’s camp as illegitimate officers of PDP-Laban.
“With this biggest and obvious violation of the PDP Laban constitution, there is no clearer evidence that the Pacquiao faction is the nuisance and illegitimate group of the PDP Laban,” Matibag stressed.