SENATOR Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said he is determined to protect the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) as the party his father cofounded plunged into deeper turmoil at the weekend with the holding of a national assembly that he and his ally, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, had called "unauthorized."

He also reiterated his explanation over why Pacquiao assumed the post of PDP president in December, an event that President Duterte, the party chairman, said Pimentel triggered when he stepped down from his post and Pacquiao, then executive vice president, took his place

"The most critical person in a party is the party president. So you cannot keep important things from him [Pacquiao]," Pimentel III said in a radio interview on Sunday, as he insisted that the faction led by party vice chairman Alfonso Cusi had no right to call the July 17 assembly without the blessing of Pacquiao, who is in the United States preparing for his August bout with Errol Spence.

Cusi, the energy secretary who had tangled with senators over his alleged bungling that they blamed for the unscheduled brownouts in Luzon on May 31 and early June, was elected president of PDP Laban last Saturday after Cusi's camp declared 16 top positions vacant, including those of Pacquiao.

Pimentel and Pacquiao said in separate statements  they will assert their right to call their own assembly in September, indicating the party squabbles would reach the Commission on Elections, which starts receiving party nominations for  2022 poll candidates by October.

Blamed by Duterte

Reminded that he was being blamed by Duterte for splitting the PDP in installing Pacquiao to the top party post, Pimentel III asserted he did not appoint the neophyte senator.

He explained that it was a function of "automatic succession" that Pacquiao should ascend to presidency because he [Pimentel III] stepped down" as party president in December 2020.

Speaking mostly in Filipino, Pimentel III clarified he opted to step down "because Cusi kept criticizing the way I was running the party, so I thought if I step down and the party's Executive Vice President [Pacquiao] takes my place, it would be better…because Pacquiao is 15 years younger" and could have a "fresh eye" in handling the group.

Pimentel added that he did not realize that Cusi himself (then the party vice chairman), was "aspiring" to be (party) president.

Pimentel III expected that "by stepping aside, and allowing the younger blood [Pacquiao] to take over, I thought it would be good for the party. But they [Cusi camp] panicked. Why? What is his plan?"

At the same time, Pimentel noted that Cusi is "not an executive official of the party—he is just vice chairman-—but he started making the rounds, talking to people, organizing meetings.  I don't know what his plans are."

Moreover, the administration-allied lawmaker lamented the presidential jabs at PDP Laban and at him and his late father, former Senate President Aquilino Jr. or Nen Pimentel, a cofounder of the party that was born in Mindanao in the early eighties at the height of the Marcos dictatorship.

Pimentel admitted that "masakit mabanatan ng taong tinulungan mo [it hurts to be hit by someone you helped]," but insisted he would not hit back at Duterte, who has serious matters to attend to.

"We should let him focus on those.  Kami na lang ang mamroblema sa [we will just be the ones to focus on] party problems."

However, the senator debunked Duterte's claim that "PDP Laban was asleep for 100 years," and that it was a father-and-son party and that Nene Pimentel] "was not even acknowledged in Cagayan De Oro," the Pimentels' bailiwick.

"That is where I corrected him [Duterte]," the senator said, reminding that "Tatay [Nene Pimentel] is recognized in Cagayan De Oro."

Pimentel added:  "The party [PDP Laban] was active, already producing a senator," in fact, two Senate Presidents [Pimentrel Jr. and the III], even while acknowledging that as expected, it even grew in numbers [when  Duterte became president]."

Still, he acknowledged that "a surge" in membership is normal in political parties when they produce a president.

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