THE Commission on Elections vowed to come out with an objective decision in the ongoing leadership dispute of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas made the commitment as the factions of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao are now vying for the leadership of PDP-Laban.
“Comelec decides depending on the laws, constitution, and by laws of their party,” Abas said during an online press briefing on Comelec’s signing of Memorandum of Agreement with Ayala Malls last Monday.
“We don’t care about their [party] politics. We decide on what is right,” Abas said.
The camps of Cusi and Pacquiao each submitted a separate Sworn Information Update Statement (SIUS), containing the full name of the party, headquarters address, list of current officials, list of elected members, and list of members, among others.
The split in the PDP-Laban happened after Pacquiao started talking of alleged corruption in the Duterte administration, prompting an angry reaction from President Duterte, who is the chairman of the political party.
Pacquiao and Sen. Koko Pimentel, whose father is cofounder of the party born in Mindanao at the height of the Marcos dictatorship, has backed Pacquiao. Both senators criticized Cusi for giving priority to calling what they deemed a premature party assembly at a time when Cusi’s agency could not provide lawmakers a coherent explanation for power disruptions.
Abas said they have handled similar leadership disputes involving PDP-Laban and other political parties. He expects the tension within PDP-Laban to escalate and likened it to one of the boxing matches of Pacquiao.
“It will be a bloody [affair] just like a boxing [match] between Pacquiao and Cusi,” Abas said.