PDP-Laban won’t collect fees for barangay posts

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) does not and will not solicit or collect “fees” for barangay positions, said party leader and Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

“PDP-Laban and any other group, especially those supportive of President Duterte will not, does not and cannot have such a program asking for money in exchange for a chance to be considered as barangay appointees,” Pimentel told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

In the first place, Pimentel said there was still no law scrapping the barangay elections set for October, much less authorizing the appointment of about 42,000 village chiefs across the country.

Pimentel warned the public against believing the scam of some individuals who were using the name of PDP-Laban to ask for “registration fees” or payments from those who wanted to be appointed barangay officials.

Shady activities

He said the cash collections were supposedly in exchange for inclusion in a list that would be used in appointing barangay officials when the barangay elections were postponed.

Pimentel said incidents were monitored in Pampanga, Bicol and also certain areas in Mindanao.

To thwart shady activities like this, he said the PDP-Laban was accelerating its reorganization nationwide and designating people in areas not yet covered by the party.

“In this way, people will be clear on who is the party’s point person per province so that when a group goes to Pampanga to solicit money in the name of the party, the member can easily [countercheck] with the point person,” he said.

President Duterte is seeking to postpone the barangay elections, claiming that 40 percent of officials in the country’s over 42,000 barangays were either corrupt or into illegal drugs.