BILANG PILIPINO | Ruling party threatens to expel Pacquiao after he revived his own political vehicle

August 12, 2021 , 10:22 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(August 12, 2021) – The ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) has threatened to expel boxing icon and a senator after he resuscitated his own small regional party in preparation for his own plans to run for president next year, a party official said on Thursday.

Melvin Matibag, PDP-Laban secretary-general, said it has come to the party’s attention the efforts by Senator Emmanuel “Manny’ Pacquiao to reorganize his regional political party, People’s Champ Movement (PCM), and transformed it into a national political party in preparation for the upcoming May 2022 elections.

“Senator Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Pacquiao’s latest punch has virtually created for himself a rabbit hole – one that could lead to his expulsion from Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban),” Matibag said, citing the senator’s moves.

Matibag warned Pacquiao his actions are grounds for expulsion in ruling PDP-Laban.

Pacquiao is on leave in the upper house of Congress and is due to a welterweight title fight against a Cuban boxer on August 21 in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao has been contesting the leadership of the party after its vice chairman, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, convened a party leadership meeting in late May to endorse the president as its vice presidential candidate next year and allow him to choose his own standard bearer.

Early this month Cusi said the party will formalize next month in a convention the party’s tandem for the May 2022 elections – Senator Lawrence Christopher “Bong” Go and the president.

Pacquiao tried to expel Cusi and two others who were behind the meeting in May but was ignored as President Rodrigo Duterte supported them and lambasted Pacquiao in one of his late night television broadcasts in June.

Cusi and the PDP-Laban officers were elected in a July meeting, leaving Pacquiao and his small supporters, including Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, the son of the party’s founder in the late 1970s.

Matibag said the minutes of Pacquiao’s PCM meeting, which circulated in social media, showed the central committee members were present when it amended its constitution and by-laws (CBL) to serve as a “national party.”

“The Minutes of the Meeting also showed that aside from the reorganization of the PCM, also included in the agenda of the December 2020 Meeting were the amendment of the CBL as National Political Party, adoption and ratification of the amended CBL as a National Political `party, and election of officers, among other matters,” Matibag said.

Founded in 2009 by Pacquiao, PCM is a regional political party in the provinces of General Santos and Sarangani. It is said to be closely affiliated with PDP-Laban and the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Pacquiao could have burned his bridges with the president’s ruling party after he started attacking his poor handling of pandemic response and weak position towards China in the West Philippine Sea.

In response to the criticisms, Duterte in a speech last month berated the boxer turned politician for his poor attendance record in the senate, and challenged him to investigate the issue of corruption under the administration and identify the office of his concern. (MM)

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