Between five and 10 members of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan face sanction including expulsion, its president Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said Tuesday.
Pimentel, former president of the Senate, said people he did not identify but claimed to be officials of the party’s regional councils held a national assembly last week and elected a new set of officers.
He said what the group—which retained only two party officials: President Rodrigo Duterte as chairman and Presidential Assistant Christopher Go as the auditor—did was prejudicial to the party.
Replying to reporters’ questions, Pimentel said: “Up to expulsion, because this is an act inimical to the party using in an unauthorized way the name of the party.”
On July 20, Pimentel’s group issued a “notice to the public” to warn the people against individuals who were identifying themselves as officers of the organization.
Pimentel said some individuals had called for a national assembly on July 27 at the Amoranto Amphitheater in Quezon City he added was not authorized by the party.
“We wish to inform the party members and the public that these individuals have no authority to represent the party or its national council and are therefore usurpers of party authority,” the notice said.
On Sunday, Go said Duterte would call a caucus to unite factions within the PDP-Laban.
On Friday, a breakaway faction held an unauthorized assembly to elect Rogelio Garcia as president, Abbin Dalhani as executive vice president, Willy Talag as secretary-general and Go as the auditor.
“It was only yesterday that I learned of the faction,” Go said.
“When they asked me about the assembly and [told me] I was chosen [as the auditor], I told them that I was already the interim national auditor, but this time around this [was] another faction.”
The breakaway group retained Duterte as chairman.
“I mentioned this to the President. I said, ‘Mayor there are factions in this. You are chairman in this faction and chairman in the other. I, too, am auditor in this faction and auditor in the other faction,’” Go said.
He said the President was taken by surprise at the development.
The group removed Pimentel III as party president and Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as secretary-general, but the established party leaders dismissed the move as an unauthorized action by rogue or expelled members.
“This is the party that took the President to the presidency, so it would be a pity if we don’t do anything about it,” Go said of the rift within the PDP-Laban.
Pimentel on Sunday warned against saboteurs who were out to sow havoc and destroy the ruling PDP-Laban.
“Once they succeed in their plot, they will jump [ship],” said Pimentel, who noted that he spent his political life in the party founded by his father, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
The younger Pimentel said PDP-Laban was the only party for him and he had been a member for the last 36 years.
He likened the party’s saboteurs to a businessman who would buy a brand name of another business only to kill it.
“We should be wary of this kind—those who just joined the party [PDP-Laban] and then, we do not know the motive… now, they’re so influential, they will mimic the goals of the party, and then, they do not care if the party will be destroyed. So we should closely watch these politicians,” Pimentel said.
The senator also called on their legitimate members to think about the best interest of the party and minimize the drama and sideshow.
He also noted that the majority of those sabotaging the party were non-members and others were not high-ranking officers.