Threat to oust Pacquiao a ‘wild bluff’
The bloc in the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) led by Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao has dismissed as a “wild bluff” the warning issued by a rival group to expel the senator for planning to convert his regional party into a national party.”The expelled group is only peddling lies to further their malicious and baseless claims. Hence, this issue is all a wild BLUFF meant to distract Senator Manny Pacquiao from his world championship boxing bout,” PDP-Laban Executive Director Ron Munsayac said in a statement on Friday.A day earlier, PDP-Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag, who is identified with the faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, said that by plotting to turn the People’s Champ Movement (PCM) into a national party, Pacquiao “has virtually created for himself a rabbit hole – one that could lead to his expulsion from Partido Demokratikong Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan.”Munsayac refuted Matibag, saying the “snapshots of documents being circulated actually show that within days of becoming PDP-Laban President, Senator Manny Pacquiao gave up the presidency of the People’s Champ Movement.”Munsayac also called the Cusi faction “unpatriotic” for targeting Pacquiao at a time when the senator was busy preparing for his title fight in Las Vegas on August 21.Matibag had said there was “news quoting reliable sources” that confirms Pacquiao’s plan.He said minutes of the meeting held on Dec. 20, 2020 in General Santos City, which circulated in social media, showed that the central committee of the PCM, met to amend the party’s constitution and bylaws so it could become a national political party.But Munsayac said Pacquiao’s loyalty to PDP-Laban remained unquestionable, adding that Matibag and Cusi were earlier ousted by what he said was the party’s legitimate leadership.Pacquiao was the party president when he ordered the banishment of Cusi and Matibag for calling the members to a convention that he refused to approve.In retaliation, the Cusi faction booted out Pacquiao and replaced him with Cusi.Munsayac said all the acts of Cusi’s group “are therefore null and void for being in utter violation of the Party Constitution.””The desperation of the claims against Senator Manny Pacquiao show the malicious nature of the cause of the usurpers and expelled members of PDP-Laban who have no rights or authority whatsoever to represent or lead the Party,” he said.There was nothing wrong with Pacquiao staying on as a member of the PCM, Munsayac said, adding that President Rodrigo Duterte himself is both a member of PDP-Laban and Hugpong ng Pagbabago.Pacquiao’s ally, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd on Friday also lashed out at politicians who are trying to distract the boxing icon from his training.”This is the first time that a group of Filipinos, because of politics, has organized an effort meant to distract our Pambansang Kamao while he fights in the boxing ring to bring additional honor to our country. How unpatriotic of this group of politicians!” said Pimentel in his post on Twitter.The split in PDP-Laban is expected to worsen after Cusi scheduled a convention on September 8 where the members are expected to endorse Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and the party’s standard bearer in the 2022 elections and President Duterte as his running mate.
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