Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. (Screen grab/ Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III wants the PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to reveal its “hidden” presidential bet for the 2022 polls, saying this can fix the growing rift within the ruling political party.
“Maso-solve talaga ito kung sa loob ng partido, ilabas ninyo ang baraha ninyo. ‘Di yung nakatago at napakahirap ninyong intindihin,” Pimentel, whose father founded the party, said in an interview over radio station DWIZ.
(We can solve this if you will show your cards. Don’t keep it hidden because we won’t understand each other.)
“Dapat sa loob ng partido, walang taguan ng baraha. ‘Di naman dapat namin mine-media yung mga usapan sa loob ng partido. Nakatago yung baraha, ayaw ilabas yung baraha, lalo kaming ‘di nagkakaintindihan tapos puro media pa sila nang media,” he added.
(In a party, we should not hide our cards from one another. Talks within the party should not get to the media. Their cards are hidden, they don’t want us to see, we won’t understand each other this way, and then they will run to the media.)
‘Survey’ top notcher
Pimentel, former PDP-Laban president, and current executive vice-chairman surmised that some members of PDP-Laban want to nominate an outsider as the party’s presidential bet for 2022.
“Bakit ka nagno-nominate ng taga labas ng partido? Sasabihin top notcher sa survey,” Pimentel said.
(Why will they nominate someone from outside the party? They’ll say because that person is a top-notcher in the surveys.)
While the senator did not mention any names, presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is being groomed to succeed her father and has been topping recent pre-election surveys.
On Friday, Duterte-Carpio said she is open to running for the position following months of maintaining she does not want to run for higher office in 2022.
The Davao City mayor is not a member of the PDP-Laban, of which President Rodrigo Duterte serves as chairman. The presidential daughter had formed her own regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP).
“Importante ang nominee galing sa partido and has a reasonable chance of winning. Ang PDP-laban, never naming ginawang number one criterion ang sure winner,” Pimentel went on.
(What’s important is that the nominee comes from the party and has a reasonable chance of winning. The PDP-Laban never made it it’s number one criterion that the candidate should be a sure winner.)
“Ang gustong gawin ng iba, magi-import galing sa labas. Bakit? Meron naman tayong panlaban na sa partido. We do not have to field a sure winner,” he added.
(What others want is to import somebody from the outside. Why? We already have someone within the party.)
The party, according to Pimentel, need not field a “sure winner” so long as that candidate is willing to run for the position, is credible, and has a chance of winning.
“Bawal na bawal po ang outsider lalo na kung meron kang homegrown candidate,” he further stressed.
(We can’t allow an outsider to be our candidate when we have our own homegrown one.)
“Sino ang kapartido namin sa PDP-Laban na ang pangalan ay nasasama sa presidential survey at nagla-landing naman sa top three or top four? Isa lang, si Sen. [Manny] Pacquiao. Ngayon, the other side, ano ba yung proposal nila, sino yung other choice?” Pimentel added.
(Who among our party members whose name is being ranked top three or top four in the surveys? Only Sen. Pacquiao. Now, the other side, what’s their proposal? Who is the other choice?)
Pacquiao ‘being groomed’ for national post
Pimentel also said some members of the party were “alarmed” with Pacquiao’s designation as party acting president but could not explain why they felt that way.
He said Pacquiao’s camp is “grooming” the boxing-champ-turned-politician for a national post, whether it be for president, vice president, or reelection in the Senate.
This was the reason why Pacquiao was given national exposure as the party’s acting president, Pimentel noted.
“Bigla sila na-alarma nang maging party president si Sen. Pacquiao,” he added.
(They were suddenly alarmed when Sen. Pacquiao became president.)
“Di naman nila mapaliwanag [kung] bakit. Ano ang dahilan? ‘Kasi may manok kami for president.’ ‘Di naman nila masabi yun. Ano ba? May manok kayo for president sa loob ng partido o may manok kayo for president sa labas ng partido?” the senator further said.
(They couldn’t explain why. What’s the reason? ‘We have our own bet.’ They can’t even say that directly. What is it? Do they have someone from the party or someone outside?)
The tension within the party escalated after Cusi, vice chairman of the party, and two other officials were expelled by the PDP-Laban’s National Executive Committee (NEC) for allegedly violating provisions of the party’s constitution.
Cusi had previously called for a national assembly last May 31 despite Pacquiao’s opposition.
Pacquiao warned Cusi at one point about attempting to “divide” the party after the latter reportedly went around the country consulting with their party mates regarding a resolution urging Duterte to run for the vice presidency in 2022.
Pimentel had also warned against letting the ruling PDP-Laban fall apart.