‘Anti-dictatorship party backing dictator’s son’
BY RAYMOND AFRICA and PETER TABINGO
A FACTION of the ruling party PDP-Laban yesterday hit its rival headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi for endorsing the presidential bid of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said he found it ironic that Cusi’s faction would endorse the candidacy of Marcos Jr. as the party was founded by his late father, Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., to oppose the dictatorship of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Bongbong’s father.
Pimentel III leads the other PDP faction with Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, who is also seeking the presidency.
“With this latest action from Secretary Cusi and his cohorts, they have manifested that they are total strangers to PDP-Laban. They don’t even acknowledge that PDP-Laban was established to oppose the Marcos dictatorship,” Pimentel said in a tweet.
Pacquiao, who is running under the Cebu-based PROMDI party, said the PDP-Laban that stood against the dictator remains opposed to the son.
He said the PDP-Laban is deeply rooted in standing up to the excesses of the Marcos regime so that an expression of support for the dictator’s son is considered a betrayal of what the party stands for.
He likened the endorsement to a slap on the face of PDP members.
“Baka nalimutan ni Cusi na ang PDP ay nabuo against sa Marcos regime. Baka nakalimutan lang niya. Lahat ng miyembro ng PDP, huwag po natin sundin si Cusi (Maybe it has slipped Cusi’s mind that PDP was created precisely to resist the Marcos regime. Perhaps it is time we remind him. I call on all PDP members to ignore Cusi),” Pacquiao said during an ambush interview in Parañaque City.
The camp of Manila Mayor and Aksyon Demokratiko standard bearer Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said the decision of the Cusi faction was ”beyond any principled choice.”
“I would like to recall for purposes of clearing the picture here that PDP was founded by the late Sen. Nene Pimentel as an opposition party versus the Marcos dictatorship. Laban, on the other hand, was founded in 1978 by then imprisoned opposition leader Ninoy Aquino.
How the PDP-Laban can now support the candidacy of their founding father’s nemesis is ironic and beyond any principled choice,” said Lito Banayo, Moreno’s campaign strategist.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is running for president, said it is “the prerogative of the political party.”
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Lacson’s running mate, said what he knows is that the PDP-Laban party is the one headed by Pimentel and Pacquiao.
“So, sino bang PDP-Laban ang sinasabi mo (So, which PDP-Laban are you referring to?)” Sotto said when asked to react on the Cusi faction endorsement.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, running mate of opposition presidential candidate Vice President Leni Robredo, said Cusi “has made apparent anew his preoccupation with politics despite the country’s wobbly power situation.”
“After months in tussle with the other faction of the PDP-Laban, he officially endorsed a candidate from another party, something that has been obvious from the start. Nahaharap na ang bansa sa isang energy crisis, sa politika pa inuubos ni Sec. Cusi ang kanyang enerhiya (The country is facing an energy crisis and Sec. Cusi is using his energy on politics),” he said in a statement.
The Cusi wing on Monday night issued a resolution that said after “careful and exhaustive deliberations,” it is officially endorsing Marcos whose running mate, presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, it has earlier endorsed.
Cusi, in a press conference yesterday, said the President is aware of the party decision but hinted the elder Duterte may still make an announcement of his own.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said it is best to wait if the President will still make an announcement, adding Duterte remains an influential political figure which is why people want his endorsement.
Marcos and Duterte-Carpio thanked the Cusi wing for its support to all the UniTeam candidates.
The Cusi faction said Marcos “is the candidate whose platform is most aligned with the development program of President Rodrigo Duterte.”
Banayo said he could not fathom how Duterte could endorse Marcos Jr. after he called him a “weak leader’ and a “spoiled brat.”
“… Ang gusto ko lang itanong sa aking kabigan na si Pangulong Duterte, paano kaya ninyo malulunok ang isang kandidato na sinabi nyong nagdo-droga, spoiled brat, at hindi pwedeng maging leader. Marami na siyang nasabi sa kandidatong ito at hindi ko matatatwa ay pa-panong babaliktarin ang nasabi mo na dati,’ he said.
The Cusi faction, in September last year, asked the Commission on Elections to declare the Pimentel-Pacquiao faction as illegitimate for “usurping party authority and pretending to be representatives of our party.”
The Pimentel-Pacquiao faction insisted that its group is recognized by grassroots members and senior party leaders since 1982 when the party was founded.
He said it is high time that the Comelec “dismiss the petition of these usurpers” since the other group has clearly violated its rules.
“In Germany for example, a political party formed to oppose Adolf Hitler will definitely not support an Adolf Hitler Jr. Logic lang yan (It is logical). Consistent with the PDP-Laban history and party constitution!” he added.
MEMBERSHIP REVIEW
The Cusi faction’s Resolution No. 26 was signed by 13 officials while there was no signature next to the name of PDP-Laban’s vice president for Visayas, Gov. Ben Evardone, who had earlier endorsed Robredo.
Cusi, during a press conference, said the party respects the choices of their members who have endorsed other candidates prior to the party endorsement, but will wait and see how they will eventually decide now that the party has made its decision.
Cusi said the PDP’s membership committee will eventually review the membership of these individuals, taking into account that they have made their choices before the endorsement of Marcos.
PDP faction membership committee chairwoman and senatorial candidate Astra Pimentel said under the party constitution, “whatever the majority of the members of the party have decided, it is that position that the party will take.”
The Cusi faction said Marcos received the most endorsements from
local councils including in Ilocos Sur, La Union, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Oriental Mindoro, Camarines Norte, Masbate, Aklan, Negros Occidental, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur, Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, Caloocan City, Malabon City, Mandaluyong City, Pasay City, Paranaque City, San Juan City, Valenzuela City, Malolos City, Ormoc City and San Pedro City. — With Ashzel Hachero, Jocelyn Montemayor, and Wendell Vigilia
