The Pacquiao-Pimentel faction of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP)-Lakas ng Bayan (Laban) on Friday (May 6) will contest a decision of the special second division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) recognizing the faction headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as the true and official members of the party.
‘’The decision is not immediately executory. We will file a motion for reconsideration as a matter of right within five days from receipt of copy of decision,’’ said Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III in his Viber account sent to Senate reporters.
Pimentel is claiming to be the legitimate chairman of the PDP-Laban camp.
President Duterte is also chairman of the PDP-Laban faction headed by its president, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. The Cusi wing had endorsed the presidential bid of former Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the vice presidential bid of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
The 2022 presidential election is on Monday (May 9).
Duterte has restated his position that he is not endorsing anyway in the 2022 presidential race, despite the camp of Cusi announcing the party’s support for Marcos, Jr.
The PDP-Laban was organized 40 years ago by Pimentel’s father, the late Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. who was the political enemy of the elder Marcos.
When he ran and won in the 2016 presidential elections, Duterte’s political party was PDP-Laban.
In his statement , Pimentel said his faction would ‘’raise again the following points and we hope the Comelec en banc will look at these issues with eyes wide open.’’
These are:
(1) The petition was fatally defective - it was filed for and on behalf of a political party (which is not a human being) without any Board Resolution authorizing its filing! Ang luwag naman ng Comelec kay Sec Cusi pagdating sa requirements! Sec Cusi and company had no authority to file the Petition and yet it was entertained by Comelec? What happened to all the requirements other petitioners before the Comelec are required to comply with?
(2) The lawyer who signed didn’t even have updated MCLE (Mandatory Continuing Legal Education) requirement! Plus the other arguments raised in our initial comment.
(3) The Comelec will be asked to explain to us why they referred the fatally defective petition to a Division without even informing us, as we are a party to the case. Why the little secrecy?
(4) Those of us who have known only one political party, the PDP LABAN, and have been with PDP LABAN for 40 long years will now be separated from our party because of Secretary Cusi who joined the party five years ago and his group of people who are outsiders and strangers to the party?
‘’Ayaw nga namin maging mga turncoats kaya nga 40 years na kami sa PDP LABAN (We never wanted to be political turncoats and that is why we have never left PDP-LABAN.. Ayaw namin ng palipat lipat ng partido (We do not want to keep on changing parties) and it is Comelec which will force us to transfer to another party against our will and against our party rules?
(5) Imagine this: there is a printer which printed more peso bills than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Will we now recognize that fake money printer as the new Central Bank just because it printed more paper bills than the BSP? Although the new paper bills are fake? This issue should not be a case of “paramihan (by increasing the number of members)”.
Paramihan, Pero mga fake members naman (But they are actually fake members!) This case is an issue of following rules. Following the PDP LABAN constitution. Following Comelec rules of procedure.
(6) Only legitimate PDP-Laban members should be allowed to resolve this issue. The “padding” of the membership by outsiders and complete strangers to the party should not be allowed.
Pimentel earlier said there would be a “cleansing” of the political party after the May 9 polls even if the group may possibly be reduced to a “very small number.”
“After this election, I promised my members who are still with me now in PDP-Laban, together with Senator Manny Pacquiao, with his help, there will be a cleansing of the PDP-Laban,” Pimentel said.
“If we will be reduced to a very small number, so be it. But we will have to rebuild the party. This time, looking for people, members who really believe in the five basic principles and the objective of federalism,” he added.