President Rodrigo Duterte and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi
MANILA, Philippines — The ruling PDP-Laban party is not going for “personality politics”, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Friday amid its push for President Rodrigo Duterte to run for a senator.
Cusi made the remark after Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said that the move of Cusi’s PDP-Laban faction to convince Duterte to run for the Senate in next year’s elections smacks of “desperation”.
Pimentel also dubbed the Cusi faction’s push as “personality politics.”
“What we are pushing ay hindi po personality politics. What we are pushing ay real party politics based on programs,” Cusi said in an interview with The Source.
“Ang sinasabi lang namin para tumakbo si Pangulo, he will be a very good endorser, siya talaga [‘yung] will give a real leadership. Yung sinasabi nating leadership that is willing to really take all the risks to make things happen. It’s not personality politics,” he added.
(What we are saying is President Duterte will be a very good endorser, he will really give real leadership—a leadership that is willing to take all the risks to make things happen.)
Pimentel, who is also a part of PDP-Laban whose camp remains at odds with the Cusi faction in the party, said the energy secretary’s group gives the “impression that they do not have strong candidates within their group and that they are all simply riding on and are totally dependent on the popularity and strength of personality of the incumbent president.”
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)
Pimentel then stressed the need for parties to aspire for “issues-based politics.”
Pimentel and Cusi are from feuding factions within PDP-Laban. For the 2022 elections, the two groups are endorsing separate sets of presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Pimentel’s group is pushing for Senator Manny Pacquiao for president while Cusi’s group is going for Senator Ronald Dela Rosa.