Comelec en banc upholds decision declaring Cusi wing as ‘true’ PDP-Laban

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III and former Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi. FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc upheld the decision of its second division declaring the faction of former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as the “true and official” members of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

In its resolution released on Friday, the Comelec en banc announced that it denied the motion for reconsideration filed by Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and former senator Manny Pacquiao about the Comelec resolution in May 2022.

“The instant Comelec en banc Resolution denied the Motion for Reconsideration dated 11 May 2022, and affirmed the assailed Resolution of the Comelec Special Second Division dated 6 May 2022,” the poll body said in a statement.

Comelec further said that the en banc “did not find novel issues to be tackled and found no cogent reason to disturb the decision of the Comelec  Special Second Division.”

Voting 2-1, the poll body’s special Second Division granted the petition filed by the Cusi wing in August 2021 to declare the other faction led by Pimentel as illegitimate.

Pimentel is the son of former Senate President and party cofounder Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., who founded the PDP-Laban in 1982 with the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. as an opposition force against the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Cusi wing, however, backed the presidential candidacy of now-president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the former president.

JPV