Cusi debunks Pimentel: ‘There will be no power grab’ in PDP-Laban

Senator Koko Pimentel and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no power grab in the ruling PDP-Laban, party vice chairman and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Tuesday.

Cusi was apparently responding to Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III’s earlier claim of an ongoing power grab in the party even tagging him as the “brains” behind this supposed plot.

Pimentel is executive vice chairman of the party and son of its founder, the late Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel.

But Cusi, in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, said: “There will be no power grab because ang power grab, yung ayaw ng mga miyembro kinuha mo.”

(There will be no power grab because power grab is when you take it against the will of the members.)

“Pero ito [But here], the members, it’s the body that is deciding. So how can there be a power grab?” he asked.

Before this, Cusi asked Pimentel to “step up,” noting that there had been no actions in the party for a long time now.

According to Cusi, the party should elect a new leadership every two years.

“So wala namang exclusivity yan na kailangan pamilya lang ang magle-lead no, or the original, so whoever has the passion for it,” the energy chief said.

(So there’s no exclusivity here that only the family or the original must lead [the party] so whoever has the passion for it)

In December last year, Pimentel stepped down as party president and gave the post to Senator Manny Pacquiao.

This triggered the infighting in PDP as other party leaders including its chairman, President Rodrigo Duterte, were not consulted on Pacquaio’s new role in the party, Cusi earlier said.

JPV