Duterte-led PDP-Laban wing: We ‘respect’ party founder widow’s ‘opinion’ on Marcos endorsement

FILE PHOTO: PDP-Laban secretary-general and Acting Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The PDP-Laban wing supported by President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday insisted on the “collective decision” of the party to support the presidential bid of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. even while claiming they respect the “opinion” of the party founder’s widow on the matter.

Lourdes “Bing” Pimentel, widow of PDP-Laban founder Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr, strongly criticized party members for endorsing the son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, calling them a bunch of thieves.

The Pimentel couple were survivors of the Marcos dictatorship. The PDP-Laban party was organized during martial law and rejected the Marcos regime.

According to PDP-Laban secretary-general and Acting Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag, the party’s position to back Marcos Jr.’s presidential candidacy was not a “personal call” of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who formed the faction.

“We respect Nanay Bing’s opinion. We value it and we listen to it, but we have to recognize that ang [the] PDP Laban is a political party with a democratic process na sinusunod [which we follow],” PDP-Laban secretary-general and Acting Cabinet Secretary Melvin Matibag said in a press conference.

READ: Pimentel widow says no to Marcos presidency

“‘Yun namang posiiton ng partido ay hindi personal call ni Secretary Cusi but it’s a collective decision of all the members of PDP-Laban, if not all, it’s the majority of the members,” he added.

On Sunday, Bing Pimentel issued a scathing rebuke of the PDP-Laban wing’s decision on Marcos Jr. saying the son of the dictator does not deserve the support of her late husband’s party nor to be the country’s president.

“The thieves who stole the nation’s coffers have also stolen PDP-Laban, which was created by the blood and sacrifice of people like Nene Pimentel, Ninoy Aquino, and Lorenzo Tañada, and shamelessly used it to support the candidacy of a person who does not deserve to be the president of our country,” she said in Filipino.

“I am praying and calling on all those voting for Bongbong Marcos to study carefully and not play deaf and blind to the truth, which shows that Bongbong Marcos has been ‘weighed but found wanting’ of the qualities to become president.”

“I pray that this shall not happen because the nation will suffer and we will all suffer,” she also said.

READ: Cusi-led PDP-Laban wing endorses Bongbong Marcos for president

But for PDP-Laban senatorial candidate, former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, there was “inconsistency” in the opposition of Pimentel’s son, Koko, to the party’s endorsement of Marcos Jr.

“Nakakalimutan na sa ilalim ni Senador Koko Pimentel, sinuportahan niya ang isang kandidato noong 2016 na hayagan na sinasabi ang kanyang idolo ay si President Ferdinand Marcos at tinutukoy natin ay si President Rodrigo Duterte. Sinasabi nya na hayagan na ang kanyang sinusundan, ang kanyang template bilang pangulo ay si Presidente Marcos,” Panelo said in the same press conference.

(Are we forgetting that under Senator Koko Pimentel, PDP-Laban has supported a candidate in 2016 who openly stated that his idol is President Ferdinand Marcos? I am pertaining to President Rodrigo Duterte. He openly said that his template for the presidency is President Marcos.)

Panelo also recalled that it was Duterte who allowed the burial of the elder Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The supposedly dominant PDP-Laban has no standard-bearers in the 2022 elections as it was split into two groups: the one headed by Cusi and the other led by Senators Koko Pimentel and Manny Pacquiao.

These two factions have been fighting for recognition and control of the PDP-Laban before the Commission on Elections. The Cusi-led wing has asked the poll body to declare Pimentel and Pacquiao as illegal representatives of the party.

KGA