Palace: Pacquiao’s Eleksyon 2022 presidential bid as PDP-Laban standard bearer still uncertain

Malacañang said Monday that it is not yet certain that Senator Manny Pacquiao will be the presidential candidate of ruling party PDP-Laban which has two factions, one led by the lawmaker and another by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.

Roque made the response a day after Pacquiao announced his Eleksyon 2022 presidential bid under the PDP-Laban faction he is heading.

“Karapatan po niya tumakbo (It is his right to seek public office),” Roque said. 

“Pero hindi ko po alam kung ano ang magiging desisyon ng Comelec (Commission on Elections) sa kung siya ang puwedeng magdala ng pangalan PDP-Laban sa eleksyon,” Roque added.

(But I do not know what the decision of Comelec will be, if he will be allowed to run under PDP-Laban in the elections.)

The PDP-Laban Cusi faction, backed by President Rodrigo Duterte who sits as party chairperson, already asked the Comelec to declare the Pacquiao faction of the party as illegitimate. 

The PDP-Laban Cusi faction has likewise listed Roque as one of its Senate bets for Eleksyon 2022. 

Pacquiao however insisted that they are the legitimate PDP-Laban group.

Both factions have traded barbs regarding the holding of "illegal" assemblies unauthorized by party leadership. —KG, GMA News