The ruling party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) of President Rodrigo Duterte today (Oct. 3) announced that Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao has been automatically expelled from the party for filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) under the Progressive Movement for the Devolution of Initiatives (PROMDI), a relatively unknown party based in Cebu.
PDP Laban Secretary-General Melvin Matibag said that under Section 6, Article VII of the PDP Laban Constitution, the filing by a member of a certificate of candidacy under another political party is a ground for automatic expulsion from PDP Laban.
“The PDP Laban National Executive Committee met Oct. 1 and a resolution was approved automatically expelling Sen. Pacquiao from PDP Laban in accordance with the party constitution,” he said.
“Senator Pacquiao claims that he is the legitimate President of PDP Laban and even called his own National Assembly where he accepted their so-called proclamation as presidential candidate and yet he is running for president under PROMDI. Let’s call a spade a spade. If that is not disloyalty, betrayal, and abandonment of PDP Laban, I don’t know what is,” Atty. Matibag said.
He said that what he predicted as an ongoing teleserye for Pacquiao’s candidacy has now become a reality.
“From the ouster of President Duterte as party chairman, that was a comedy. The proclamation of Sen. Pacquiao, that’s drama. And now it had ended up as a tragedy—when he bailed out of PDP Laban to run under PROMDI,” Matibag said.
He said that this move by Pacquiao’s camp only proves the illegitimacy of Pacquiao and Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III’s faction.
“Dito na makikita ng taong bayan na sila Sen. Pacquiao at Sen. Pimentel ay hindi talaga tumatalima sa Constitution ng PDP Laban at isinasantabi o ibinabasura lang ang boses ng nakakarami at totoong miyembro ng PDP Laban,” Matibag said.
He said that this move by Pacquiao only proves that he doesn’t have the support of the grassroots members of the party that he repeatedly claimed he has. “Bakit nya iiwanan ang PDP Laban kung tunay na libo-libo ang kanyang mga taga-suporta sa partido?” he said.
He said that Pacquiao’s abandonment of PDP Laban only shows that he never believed in the principles and ideology that the party stands for. “The party was only a vehicle for his over-bearing presidential ambition. When it was no longer useful to him, iniwan na niya kami,” he added.
With Pacquiao’s disloyalty, abandonment of, and expulsion from PDP Laban, Matibag is confident that the Comelec would rule in favor of their petition seeking to declare as illegitimate the claim of Pacquiao and Pimentel as rightful officers of PDP Laban.
“With this biggest and obvious violation of the PDP Laban constitution, there is no clearer evidence that the Pacquiao faction is the nuisance and illegitimate group of the PDP Laban,” Matibag said
He also feared that the true motive of the Pacquiao faction in building alliances with Promdi and the People’s Champ Movement (PCM), the so-called MP3, is only to bring confusion to the many supporters of PDP Laban across the country.
“I suppose sa buong history ng Philippine elections, wala pang presidential candidate mula sa dominant majority party na nakipagtie-up sa ibang political organizations, at pagkaraan bigla ka doon tatalon… sa kaalyadong small political party. Walang matino na gagawa nun,” he stressed.
“I don’t think if they have ever thought of the repercussions of their actions. Etong pagtalon-talon ng iba’t ibang partido ni Senator Pacquiao ay talagang matagal na niyang gawain, kapag nakita na niyang hindi umaayon sa kagustuhan niya ang partido,” Matibag explained. (PDP-LABAN) – bny
