The PDP-Laban resolution urging President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in 2022 will have to be confirmed in a "proper" national council meeting, the party's executive director said Tuesday, as he questioned the validity of the gathering that adopted the measure.
PDP-Laban executive director Ronwald Munsayac said the national council meeting of the party in Cebu on Monday "did not follow" their party's process, so the resolution calling on Duterte to vie for the vice presidency still "has to be confirmed."
The resolution was also adopted by only 107 party members present in the national council meeting, he said. PDP-Laban at present has more than 100,000 members.
"Sa pananaw ng leadership ng party and other partymates natin, hindi ito national council meeting. So we will now follow the right process," Munsayac said in a Zoom call with Senate reporters.
"We are requesting a meeting kay President Duterte so that our two top leaders can sit down and finalize the agenda and properly call for a national council meeting. Kung ano man yung mangyari doon, yun ang magiging legitimate call kasi yun yung proper process," he added.
Munsayac supported their party president, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, in calling for a boycott of the national council presided by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
He maintained that the meeting violated the PDP-Laban Constitution as only Duterte and Pacquiao, as chairman and president of the party, respectively, can call for it.
Despite this, Munsayac said it was just a simple "misunderstanding" among the party members, which can be solved once Duterte and Pacquiao sit together to set the "proper" national council meeting.
In his short video message during the meeting, Duterte urged his partymates to maintain their unity and stay true to PDP-Laban's mission of prioritizing the welfare of the people.
"I call on all of my partymates to stand together and remain united, not by personal interest but by our principles and values as we chart the future of our party and the rest of the nation," he said.
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