The faction in the ruling party led by Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi has a “secret agenda” in grabbing power from Senator Manny Pacquiao and threatening to expel him from PDP-Laban, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said.
Pimentel, son of the late founder of PDP, Aquilino Jr., said he believes the Cusi-led wing looks at Pacquiao as a “big obstacle” to implementing their hidden goal.
“First, they go to great extent to illegally and illegitimately grab power within PDP- Laban because they have a secret hidden agenda and I think Sen Manny Pacquiao is an obstacle to that,” he said.
“Now they are making an issue about Sen Manny Pacquiao being a member of PDP-Laban, which is a national party, and of PCM, which is a regional party,” Pimentel added.
He said being a member of both the PDP-Laban or a regional party or even a party-list organization was never an issue in the decades that he has run the party.
“The reason is very easy to see: there is no conflict between a national political party and a regional political party, and even with a party list organization. Those are political operations under different levels,” Pimentel said.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte himself is a member of a local party in Davao City while Cusi has his own political party in Oriental Mindoro as well as a party-list organization.
“These new members of PDP-Laban clearly do not know anything about the PDP-Laban party Constitution, how this has been interpreted and applied over the decades, our party history, and basic principles and beliefs,” Pimentel said.
“It would appear corny if we are to take seriously the latest allegations of these power grabbers,” he added.
Pimentel, however, did not give details as to his “secret agenda” claim.
The Cusi-led national council of PDP-Laban had nominated Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and President Duterte for president and vice president in next year’s elections.