Pangarungan wants PDP-Laban case to be resolved as soon as possible – Comelec’s Garcia

A poll body official said Wednesday that Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson Saidamen Pangarungan has called for a speedy resolution to the case involving which faction of the ruling party PDP-Laban must be recognized.

“Last en banc meeting last week, it was discussed by the en banc and in fact our chairman instructed whoever is the ponente of the case to kindly please expedite the resolution of the same. We have a commitment to expedite that,” Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said in an interview with ANC.

“Maybe this afternoon, we will be having our en banc, the chairman will again remind the ponente about the early decision or resolution of the controversy,” he added.

Two factions of the PDP-Laban are vying for recognition before the Comelec — the one led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and President Rodrigo Duterte; and the other by Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Senator Manny Pacquiao.

In September 2021, the Cusi faction filed a petition before the poll body to declare Pacquiao and Pimentel as illegal representatives of the party.

Pimentel urged the Comelec to dismiss the petition filed by the Cusi faction, which he called “usurpers."

Garcia said he hopes that the PDP-Laban issue will be resolved within the month.

“I was really hoping that we will be able to resolve this controversy involving the intra-party dispute of this party before the end of March. We should be able to do that in order to erase any doubt [because] remember that there is also a conflict as to which between the CONA or certificate of nomination and acceptance of the candidates of the two parties should prevail. Until today, there’s no resolution yet. We’re waiting for the resolution as to who the rightful group should PDP-Laban as a party belong to,” Garcia said.

“The resolution of this controversy is so important because there’s other certain implications or collaterals that will be resolved because of the resolution of this controversy,” he added.

Garcia, a former election lawyer whose previous clients included Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and another presidential candidate, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, also asked political parties to ensure that there are no "loopholes" in their constitution and by-laws before they file their petition for accreditation before the Comelec. 

The Cusi faction has endorsed Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte for president and vice president, respectively, in the May 9 elections, while Pimentel's group supports Pacquiao's presidential bid.

Pimentel slammed the Cusi group's endorsement of Marcos Jr., saying that it proved that they were "total strangers" to the party, which was founded in 1982 to resist the strongman rule of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., Bongbong's father. — VBL, GMA News