'SABIT LANG SILA'

Pacquiao-allied PDP-Laban members say election of Cusi, other officers 'illegal, farce'

Members of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) siding with Senator Manny Pacquiao has denounced the supposed election of its new officers as "farce," saying it was illegal and not sanctioned.

This was after PDP-Laban declared Pacquiao's post as vacant and eventually elected Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as president during an assembly led by Cusi and his faction, and attended by President Rodrigo Duterte in Clark, Pampanga.

In a simultaneous Zoom assembly, over 100 PDP-Laban chapters denounced this and said that all party officials are elected by the general membership.

The PDP-Laban chapters added that all actions made during the supposed “illegal assembly” have no force and effect over the party as this was not authorized by the members and sanctioned by Pacquiao.

“Nagtataka nga po kami kung bakit ngayon eh ang daming nagsulputang mga politiko na nagsasabing PDP daw sila at kami pa na mga orihinal na miyembro ang naitsa-pwera,” Jovel Lopez, a PDP-Laban community leader in Bulacan and party cadre since 1982, said in a statement.

(We’re confused because so many politicians suddenly appeared and claimed that they are PDP members while our original members were set aside.)

“Hindi naman po kami basta-basta makakapayag na itong mga sabit na ito ang mamayagpag sa partidong aming itinayo,” he added.

(We won’t allow that these tag-alongs will overtake the party that we founded.)

Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro City Council President Marlo Tabac said Pacquiao has the full support of the majority of the PDP-Laban members.

Tabac is a PDP-Laban grassroots leader in Mindanao.

“The Clark assembly is a farce. Karamihan naman sa mga nandoon ay pawang mga sabit lang sa partido and they are not even real members of PDP-Laban,” he said.

(The Clark assembly is a farce. Most of the attendees are just tag-alongs of the party and are not even real members of PDP-Laban.)

“Let me remind them however that this was not the first time that people tried to bring down PDP-Laban but they failed. I can tell you now, they will fail again,” he added.

'Instant members'

For his part, PDP Laban founding member Executive Vice-Chairman Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said that the “existing PDP-Laban leadership” does not recognize the assembly held by Cusi.

“Since Sec Cusi wants to be a stickler for rules then he should follow all the rules of the Party,” he said in a statement.

“You cannot make attendees to a PDP LABAN party assembly instant members of the party on the spot! As far as the present PDP LABAN leadership is concerned we will continue to function as the party,” he added.

Pimentel urged other members to unite behind Pacquiao.

“Huwag po tayong mag-alala kasi ang talaga ipinaglalaban namin dito ay yung boses po ng ating mga chapter members a buong bansa,” Pimentel said.

(Let us not worry because we are fighting for the voices of the chapter members across the country.)

Pacquiao has also hit Cusi and his faction for prioritizing politics over the COVID-19 pandemic response amid the entry of more infectious Delta variant in the country.

The infighting within the party started when President Duterte accused Pacquiao of saying that corruption tripled during the Duterte administration.

Since then, the President has called Pacquiao a liar and a punch drunk. -MDM, GMA News