A faction of PDP-Laban that is supporting President Rodrigo Duterte's vice presidential bid has asked the Commission on Election to declare a rival faction as "illegitimate", ratcheting up tensions within one of the country's oldest political parties, one member said.
The bloc led by Duterte's energy chief, Alfonso Cusi, accused the other group that includes Sen. Manny Pacquiao and Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III of "usurping party authority and pretending to be representatives of our party" before the poll body, said Melvin Matibag, the faction's secretary general.
The party was co-founded the early 1980s by Pimentel's father, the late former Sen. Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. It served as the vehicle for Duterte's 2016 campaign. Pacquiao joined the party only recently.
"The matter is now with the Comelec and we will let the established law, rules and regulations prevail. We shall refrain from discussing the specific issues raised in our petition out of respect to the commission," he told reporters on Tuesday.
The petition was filed ahead of the Cusi group's national convention in Pampanga on Wednesday, where they are expected to finalize their plans for the 2022 elections.
President Duterte, the party's chairman, will preside over the assembly, expected to be physically attended by some 400 members.
Pacquiao's camp earlier removed the President as the party chairman and elected Pimentel to replace him.
The fighting senator, who is reported to be vying for the presidency in the 2022 polls, was earlier removed as acting president of PDP-Laban by the Cusi wing during their national assembly last July. Cusi himself was elected by his faction as president of the party.
Pimentel earlier said that faction that includes himself and Pacquiao was the natural continuation of PDP-Laban.
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