Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Senator Manny Pacquiao. FILE PHOTOS / INQUIRER / SENATE PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Manny Pacquiao has been “automatically expelled” from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino – Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), the Cusi-led faction of the ruling party announced on Sunday.
Pacquiao on Friday filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president under the Progressive Movement for the Devolution of Initiatives (Promdi), which the faction said is a “relatively unknown party” based in Cebu.
Promdi is one of the political organizations under the MP3 alliance which consists of the PDP-Laban, Promdi, and the People’s Champ Movement.
According to PDP-Laban Secretary-General Melvin Matibag, a member filing a COC under another political party is grounds for automatic expulsion under Section 6, Article VII of the party’s constitution.
“The PDP Laban National Executive Committee met October 1 and a resolution was approved automatically expelling Senator Pacquaio from PDP Laban in accordance with the party constitution,” Matibag said.
“Senator Pacquiao claims that he is the legitimate President of PDP Laban and even called his own National Assembly where he accepted their so-called proclamation as presidential candidate and yet he is running for president under PROMDI. Let’s call a spade a spade. If that is not disloyalty, betrayal, and abandonment of PDP Laban, I don’t know what is,” Matibag added.
Matibag claimed that Pacquiao’s filing under Promdi “ended up as a tragedy.”
“From the ouster of President Duterte as party chairman, that was a comedy. The proclamation of Sen. Pacquiao, that’s drama. And now it had ended up as a tragedy—when he bailed out of PDP Laban to run under PROMDI,” he said, noting that the move proves Pacquiao’s illegitimacy as well as the faction led by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.
“Dito na makikita ng taong bayan na sila Sen. Pacquiao at Sen. Pimentel ay hindi talaga tumatalima sa Constitution ng PDP Laban at isinasantabi o ibinabasura lang ang boses ng nakakarami at totoong miyembro ng PDP Laban,” Matibag said.
(The people will see here that Senators Pacquiao and Pimentel do not respect the PDP-Laban Constitution and are setting aside the voice of the majority of the party members.)
Matibag likewise noted that no one in Philippine history has done what Pacquiao did.
“I suppose sa buong history ng Philippine elections, wala pang presidential candidate mula sa dominant majority party na nakipagtie-up sa ibang political organizations, at pagkaraan bigla ka doon tatalon… sa kaalyadong small political party. Walang matino na gagawa nun,” he said.
(I suppose in the Philippine history of elections, no presidential candidate from the dominant majority party tied up with other political organizations, and afterwards, jumps to an allied small political party. No one in his right mind would do that.)
Matibag further claimed that Pacquiao never believed in PDP-Laban’s principles and ideologies as the latter abandoned the party.
“The party was only a vehicle for his over-bearing presidential ambition. When it was no longer useful to him, iniwan na niya kami,” he said.
With the developments, Matibag is confident that the Commission on Elections would rule in favor of the Cusi-led faction.
“With this biggest and obvious violation of the PDP Laban constitution, there is no clearer evidence that the Pacquiao faction is the nuisance and illegitimate group of the PDP Laban,” he explained.
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