Drilon: PDP-Laban’s split will help opposition in Eleksyon 2022

Liberal Party (LP) stalwart and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday said the division in the ruling party PDP Laban will help the opposition in the 2022 national and local elections.

This after President Rodrigo Duterte, who sits as PDP-Laban chairman, and Senator Manny Pacquiao, who sits as acting president of the party, argued over the problem of corruption under the current administration.

During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay, Drilon said he expects that Pacquiao will be ousted as PDP-Laban president during the party’s upcoming national assembly on July 17 organized by PDP-Laban vice chairman Alfonso Cusi.

“Next month, in July, they will have a gathering, I assume, and I would not be surprised if Senator Manny Pacquiao will wake up one morning in July and he’s no longer the president or the acting president of the PDP-Laban,” Drilon said.

“This development will have, to me, serious implications in the 2022 election. The ruling party will be split,” he added.

Asked if this will affect LP, Drilon explained that it will “certainly not harm” the opposition, but they still have to exert efforts to take advantage of the current situation of the PDP-Laban.

“It will not harm the opposition to have the split. It will certainly help if the  administration will be divided given all the resources given all the troll farms, given the social media expense and resources that they have. Certainly a split will help the opposition,” Drilon said.

The opposition lawmaker recalled that the LP had dealt with the same dilemma that the PDP-Laban is facing right now.

“If you recall, President Cory [Aquino] endorsed President [Fidel] Ramos, then Defense secretary, as against Speaker [Ramon] Monching Mitra, so that split the party in power. Iisa lang naiwan sa 'min ni (only one person has stayed with me and) President Cory, si [Douglas] Dodo Cagas,” he narrated.

Mitra who was then president of Laban ng Demoktratikong Pilipino (LDP) was picked during the national convention to be the party's presidential candidate in the 1992 elections over Ramos. This led to Ramos bolting the LDP and forming a new party, Lakas ng Tao. The party merged with National Union of Christian Democrats, thus it became known as Lakas-NUCD. Aquino endorsed Ramos for president in the 1992 elections, and he won.

“So here we see history being repeated, the party in power is being split into two,” he added.

Drilon admitted that the LP disseminated after late former President Benigno Aquino III stepped down as the country's chief executive.

But currently, he said the opposition is recruiting and attracting civil society groups.

Asked if the LP is willing to open its doors for Pacquiao, Drilon said the LP's focus is to prepare for the possibility that Vice President Leni Robredo will gun for the presidency.

“Our concentration in the party today is to prepare in the eventuality that Leni Robredo runs for President. ‘Pag hindi siya tumakbo sa pagka [Presidente] (if she will not run for President), we are open to alliance. We are open to discussion. That’s all I can say at this point,” he said.

The minority chief also reiterated that the opposition should rally behind one candidate in the 2022 polls.

But so far, no one from the opposition has taken “any concrete steps” yet, Drilon said.

“Once there is a consensus to whom the principal player will be in the opposition, then it is the role of whoever is anointed to try to consolidate the ranks of the opposition and that includes only having one candidate for that position,” he said.

Previously, LP president and Senator Francis Pangilinan on Tuesday said they are making initiatives to reach out to Senators Panfilo Lacson, Nancy Binay, Joel Villanueva and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno for next year’s elections.

Pangilinan earlier supported Robredo’s call to field one candidate for the presidency to run against the administration's candidate.

Robredo is among the nominees of the anti-Duterte coalition 1Sambayan which recently named its possible bets for the presidency and vice presidency in the 2022 elections.

Aside from Robredo, former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, Senator Grace Poe, CIBAC party-list Representative Eduardo Villanueva, lawyer Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno, and Batangas Representative Vilma Santos-Recto were named as 1Sambayan’s nominees. —KG, GMA News