Accepts nomination of PDP-Laban faction
SEN. Emmanuel Pacquiao yesterday declared his intention to run for president in next year’s elections as he formally accepted the nomination of a faction of the ruling but fractured PDP-Laban party.
Pacquiao promised a clean government which he said is he an unrealized dream of Filipinos for decades now, and to jail corrupt officials.
Pacquiao was nominated during the national assembly held by the faction he leads together with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III. The main venue of the hybrid assembly was in Quezon City and physically attended by 78 of the 193 national assembly leaders, the camp said adding “99 percent” of the base attended virtually. The faction members also moved to allow Pacquiao to choose his vice presidential candidate.
Last month, the other faction which is led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi nominated Sen. Christopher Go as PDP-Laban standard bearer and President Duterte as vice presidential candidate. Go declined the nomination; Duterte accepted.
Yesterday, presidential adviser on political affairs Jacinto Paras expressed belief the President will withdraw from the vice presidential race if his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, will declare she is running for president.
Pacquiao is the second to officially declare a presidential candidacy. The first is Sen. Panfilo Lacson who is running with Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
Opposition leader Vice President Leni Robredo has not decided but she said on Friday she will run for president if the opposition chooses her as standard bearer.
Pacquiao, in his acceptance speech, said, “Sawa na tayo sa pangako ng pagbabago. Inip na ang taumbayan kung kailan matatapos ang kanilang paghihirap. The time is now. Ngayon na ang panahon. We are ready to rise to the challenge of leadership (We are fed up with broken promises of reforms. The people want an end to their suffering. The time is now.
This is the right time, we are ready to rise to the challenge of leadership),” he said.
Pimentel, recognized by the faction as the party’s chairman, vowed to “fight” against members of the other faction, who he said “hijacked” the party and wants the originals out of PDP.
“Today, we will formally fight back against the hijackers. We will formally declare as correct what we have been doing all along – ignoring them but resisting them. Lalaban po tayo! (We will fight),” Pimentel said in his opening remarks at the national assembly.
He said the new PDP members are just using the party.
He also said the national assembly is a “constitutionally-protected” gathering, unlike the ones the other faction has held and expressed confidence it will be recognized by the Commission on Elections as the genuine PDP-Laban. Pimentel’s father, the late senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., was one of the PDP’s founders
In an earlier radio interview, Pimentel said there is no move to kick out President Duterte as member because expulsion is done only for grave violation of party rules.
The Pimentel-Pacquiao camp earlier expelled Cusi as party vice chairman, Melvin Matibag as secretary general, and Astra Naik as head of he membership committee for reportedly supporting a non-party member as possible presidential candidate. In return, the Cusi-faction declared all seats vacant and elected Cusi as its party president, replacing Pacquiao.
The faction also filed a petition before the Comelec to declare Pacquiao and Pimentel as illegal representatives of the party. In retaliation, the Pimentel faction elected a new set of officers and voted Pimentel to be their new chairman, replacing Duterte; and former Eastern Samar Gov. Lutgardo Barbo as vice chairman, replacing Cusi.
On Duterte-Carpio’s candidacy, Paras said once the President sees the country will be in good hands, “he will possibly withdraw on his own, and let Mayor Duterte pick her own running mate for next year’s polls.”
Duterte-Carpio last week said she is running again for Davao mayor.
Paras is a member of the Hugpong Para kay Sara (HPS) movement, a multi-sectoral group led by Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco and formally launched in Makati City last week to convince the presidential daughter to run for president.
Meanwhile, hundreds of pastors and churches from different parts of the country called on former speaker Alan Peter Cayetano to join the presidential race.
Cayetano has said he is seeking the advice of family and colleagues on his plans on advancing a “faith-based, values-oriented, and Bible-centered” leadership in the upcoming national elections.
In a September 16 open letter to Cayetano, 588 pastors along with 1,564 of their church members said they found in the former Speaker a leader who can inspire Filipinos to believe in the power of faith during times of crisis.
The signatures represent 562 churches, and the number is expected to grow as the letter gets circulated all over the country.
Pastor Raul Limpiado of Catarman Temple of Praise International in Catarman, Samar said what the country needs right now is a leader “who fears God and will do His will especially during this time of great uncertainty.” — With Wendell Vigilia
