Pimentel hits back at Duterte’s PDP-Laban: Are they crazy?

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III — Photo from the Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Thursday called the new PDP-Laban “fool” for asking him to stop using the name of the party that he previously headed.

The name PDP-Laban appeared under Pimentel’s name in his February 14 letter to Senate President Francis Escudero, urging the latter to immediately act on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

But according to PDP-Laban, Pimentel “no longer has any legal or moral right” to use the name of the party, citing the 2023 Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) ruling in favor of the party’s new leadership headed by Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

READ: PDP-Laban tells Pimentel: Stop using party name

“Eh sira pala ang ulo nila…Hindi man nila ako kini-kickout sa party eh tapos aangal sila na andun pa sa existing stationary ko ‘yung PDP-Laban,” Pimentel said at the regular Kapihan sa Senado.

(Are they crazy? They didn’t even kick me out of the party then they’ll complain that the PDP-Laban is still on my existing stationery.)

The senator pointed out that the case in the Comelec was about the leadership of the party and that the ruling against his faction is still under dispute at the Supreme Court.

“So who knows, that might still be reversed,” Pimentel said in Filipino.

He also recalled former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi telling him that he had not been expelled from PDP-Laban. Cusi was president of the party.

Like Cusi, Pimentel also became president of PDP-Laban, which was founded by his father and namesake, the late Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.

“I just don’t want to be join them. But they didn’t expel me, so why are they complaining now that I’m still using the PDP-Laban, which is my real party, my father’s party, and I was the one who kept it alive until the time of the Comelec case?” Pimentel said in Filipino.

Pimentel is now running as a representative of Marikina’s 1st District under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.

Despite this, he stressed that he remains with the PDP-Laban and ready to regain the party leadership in case his faction wins the legal battle at the high tribunal.

While still claiming to be part of the PDP-Laban, Pimentel rejected its candidates in the senator race.

“No. We’re not endorsing that,” he said in Filipino.