Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s PDP-Laban faction expelled Manny Pacquiao from the ruling party after it filed a candidacy under a provincial party.
In a statement this Sunday, PDP-Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag said that under the party’s constitution, any member who files a certificate of candidacy (COC) under another party is subject to automatic explosion.
On Friday, Pacquiao-who leads another PDP-Laban faction-submitted his COC for the presidency under the Probinsya Muna Development Initiative (PROMDI) party.
According to Matibag, the national executive committee of PDP-Laban met on October 1 and approved the resolution expelling Pacquiao from the party.
Matibag also said that Pacquiao and his ally Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III is proof that they are not a legitimate faction.
He said Pacquiao does not follow the PDP-Laban constitution and ignores the voice of the members.
But Pimentel insisted that Cusi and Matibag knew nothing about the PDP-Laban and PROMDI alliance.
Pimentel explained that there is an agreement between the PDP-Laban, PROMDI, and the People’s Champ Movement (PCM) called the “MP3 Alliance.”
Under this, Pacquiao is allegedly proclaimed as the presidential candidate.
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PDP-Laban Cusi faction expels Pacquiao for filing COC
Also, under Resolution No. 12 of the PDP-Laban National Executive Committee, Pacquiao is allowed to use PROMDI to consolidate the support base and alliance partners.
According to Pimentel, PROMDI officially nominated and proclaimed Pacquiao as the presidential candidate in their national assembly.
The issue is just a figment of the imagination of Cusi and Matibag, and they are only using it for their own propaganda, said Pimentel.
According to Pimentel, what Cusi’s camp did in September, when the PDP-Laban faction nominated Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go as the presidential candidate, was even more questionable.
But on Saturday, Go filed a COC for vice president after President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew from running.
Go made no formal or public nomination, Pimentel said.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not yet decided on the issue of the two factions of the PDP-Laban.
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