Cusi faction is legitimate PDP Laban - SC
Metro Manila, Philippines - The Supreme Court ruled that the PDP Laban faction led by former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is the legitimate group of the political party.
The ruling, dated July 8, upheld the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision to recognize the Cusi group and dismissed the petition filed by former Senators Koko Pimentel and Manny Pacquiao.
According to the decision penned by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao, there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Comelec to recognize the Cusi-led faction in 2022.
The issue stemmed in 2021 when Pacquiao manifested his intention to run as the party’s presidential candidate. But Cusi, party vice chairperson, allegedly held meetings with local party leaders and endorsed a different bet who was not part of PDP Laban.
The rift resulted in the two groups convening their own meetings and national assemblies, as well as passing their own lists of party officers to the Comelec.
“In any event, even if there were other irregularities in the manner by which the Cusi-led faction conducted the May 31, 2021 National Council meeting, i.e., the agenda was not fixed in coordination with Pacquiao or the Notices of Meeting sent to the party members were supposedly defective, the meeting remains valid considering that there was a proper quorum,” read the decision.
The SC said the actions taken during and after the Cusi group’s May 31 meeting, including its July 17 national assembly, were also valid.
The high court also said the resolution that naming Pimentel as the party’s acting chairperson was void because of the dearth of evidence that former President Rodrigo Duterte authorized him to preside over the party’s meeting.
Duterte ran under the PDP Laban in the 2016 elections then became the party’s chairperson.
The court said Duterte’s filing of candidacy papers under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan in the 2022 elections did not invalidate his actions as the PDP Laban chairperson during the Cusi-led faction’s meetings and national assembly.
Pimentel’s late father, former Senate President Nene Pimentel, founded PDP in 1982. PDP merged with Laban, a party founded by democracy icon Ninoy Aquino, in 1983.
