Comelec asks Pimentel, Pacquiao to reply to Cusi faction’s petition

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered Senators Manny Pacquiao and Aquilino Pimentel III to respond to the petition of the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi that seeks to declare them illegitimate members of the ruling party.

Cusi's wing filed the petition on September 7 as it accused Pacquiao and Pimentel of pretending to be representatives of the party.

In the poll body's order dated September 22, which was shared by the Cusi group on Thursday, the Pacquiao-Pimentel faction was directed to answer the petition within five days from receipt of the document.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the Pacquiao-Pimentel camp.

Their group had maintained that they are the legitimate PDP-Laban after Cusi's wing filed the petition before the poll body. 

Pimentel said they have yet to read the filed document as he also maintained his ties with PDP-Laban since the 1980s; the senator's father, the late former Senate President Nene Pimentel, was the founder of PDP-Laban.

Pacquiao was recently named the presidential candidate of his PDP-Laban faction.

Cusi's group nominated Senator Bong Go as its presidential candidate and President Rodrigo Duterte as the running mate for Eleksyon 2022.

Until now, Go has not accepted his nomination but Duterte already signed his Certificate of Nomination Acceptance (CONA) to confirm his acceptance of the nomination. — BM, GMA News