Duterte says Sen. Pimentel’s previous action of “designating” Pacquiao as party president caused troubles in party
(Eagle News) – Senator Manny Pacquiao was replaced by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as president of the ruling PDP-Laban party in a national assembly on Saturday, July 17 which was attended by party chair, President Rodrigo Duterte.
It was President Duterte himself who swore in Cusi as the duly elected new president of PDP-Laban after 16 posts, including the PDP-Laban presidency, were declared vacant early in the assembly.
Duterte also criticized the move by Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., to appoint Pacquiao as acting president without an election. Pimentel was the holdover president of the party before he designated Pacquiao as the party’s national president, and then assumed the position of the party’s executive vice-chair in December last year.
In his speech during the national assembly, President Duterte said it was wrong for Pimentel to just pick Pacquiao as the new PDP Laban president without an election.
“You just do not push somebody there. ‘O sige, ikaw na muna mag-presidente.’ That is not how things are done. So by that singular act of just designating an acting president, there is no law in the bylaws at saka itong Constitution, which would provide for an acting president solely upon the push and shove of the president,” Duterte said.
“Ang nagkamali diyan si Koko, hindi si Pacquiao. Pacquiao does not know anything. Kung anong sabihin — totoo — kung ano mang sabihin, hindi naman nagbabasa ‘yan eh. Basta kung anong sabihin lang ng mga ano niya, sunod,” he said.
Duterte also said that this move by Pimentel to just pick Pacquiao as the PDP-Laban president was the root of the present troubles of the party.
“I do not know what prompted him to just push Pacquiao there and place an act — place of acting president. You cannot have an acting president. You have to elect people. Iyong biglaan na ano doon, doon nagkawatak-watak. And I think Secretary Cusi did not like it. So from there, it spiraled into a more vicious narratives of charge and countercharge. So iyon lang po,” he said.
The 16 party posts that have been declared vacant during the PDP Laban national assembly include the positions of the president; executive vice president; vice presidents for the National Capital Region, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao; secretary-general; treasurer; auditor; and the chairmanships of the committees on membership, education, finance, legal, public information, livelihood, and youth affairs.
-Cusi thanks Pres. Duterte, PDP-Laban partymates-
Cusi thanked the party chair, President Duterte, as well as his party-mates for the trust given to him after he is introduced as the new president of PDP-Laban.
“Maraming, maraming salamat po sa tiwalang ibinigay niyo sa akin at makakasa po kayo na I will live by the oath that I took in front of you,” Cusi said.
In his speech, Duterte said that the PDP-Laban party and its newly elected officials and all members should “remain focused on our mission of uplifting the quality of life of the Filipino people, especially now that we are still grappling with the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
-Duterte thanks party members who joined event-
He also thanked all of the PDP-Laban members and officers who attended the National Assembly on Saturday, July 17, in Clark, Pampanga, and also those who joined virtually. He said that “their presence” was a sign that the party was “as strong as ever.”
“I would like to thank all of you, my dear partymates, for answering the call to convene the National Assembly of PDP–Laban. Your presence here sends a clear and resounding message to everyone that our Party is as strong as ever, and that we are united in further consolidating our ranks until the end of my term and beyond,” Duterte said.
President Duterte also noted that the PDP-Laban only became a strong party when he came in. Duterte ran as PDP-Laban standard bearer in 2016.
-Duterte hits Pimentel-
“May I just remind Koko na itong party-ng PDP was asleep for a hundred years. It only woke up during the election and when I ran for the presidency under the ticket,” he said.
While Duterte recognized that PDP-Laban was formed by the Pimentel family as the late senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr., was its founding chair, he said that was mostly a “father-and-son party” that had little clout before he came in. He even claimed that Pimentel, who is the PDP-Laban’s executive vice-chair, would not even win if he runs as barangay chair.
“It was a father and son party, period. Wala nang iba. And they are not even recognized in Cagayan de Oro City. Totoo ‘yan. Hindi ako nag — I am not trying to throw an insult pero ‘yan ang totoo talaga. They cannot win. Magtakbo ‘yang si Koko maski barangay captain, talo ‘yan sa kanila. Wala eh,” he said.
-PDP-Laban’s new set of officers-
The following are the new set of PDP-Laban officers who took their oath on Saturday, July 17:
President – Alfonso G Cusi
Executive Vice President – Karlo Alexei Nograles
VP for National Capital Region – Edwin Olivarez
VP for Luzon – Raul Lambino
VP for Visayas – Ben Evardone
VP for Mindanao – Charito Plaza
National Treasurer – Rianne Cuevas
General Auditor – Christopher Lawrence Go
Committee Chairpersons:
Membership- Astravel Naik
Education- Noel Felongco
Finance -Antonio Kho
Legal -Richard Nethercot
Public Information – Jonathan Malaya
Livelihood- Reymar Mansilungan
Youth Affairs – Maria Katrina Nicole Contacto
An earlier PDP Laban national council meeting on Friday also voided the previous resolutions signed by Pacquiao as president that expelled Cusi and two others — Atty. Melvin Matibag and Astra Naik — from the party.
(with a report from Meanne Corvera, Eagle News Service)