CLUELESS DEL ROSARIO

“As for Pimentel, he was hardly known as a leader of the PDPLaban before Duterte won the presidency.

“Pacquiao stands to win big money after his boxing match. That should explain his decision to leave his unfinished business at home.

From the way he has been behaving lately, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III probably thinks he owns the pro-administration PDP-Laban political party. As everybody probably knows by now, there is an ongoing rift within the PDP-Laban between the camp of Senator Manny Pacquiao and that of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. At the recent party caucus, party members elected Cusi the new PDP-Laban president.

Before that election, Pacquiao was the party’s acting president for quite some time. Pacquiao is currently in the United States to prepare for his boxing match in Los Angeles scheduled this August. Before leaving for abroad, Pacquiao made repeated but unsubstantiated allegations of massive corruption in the government, particularly in the Department of Health.

After Pacquiao learned that PDP-Laban may not be endorsing his dream run for president in the 2022 elections, he accused Cusi of holding unauthorized party assemblies.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who is also the chairman of PDP-Laban, scored Pacquiao for leaving for abroad without substantiating his allegations of corruption in the government. Duterte also took pot shots at Pacquiao by saying in a recent press conference that the boxer is punch drunk, has no mind of his own, and only does what his advisers tell him.

Many netizens are also upset that Pacquiao gave priority to his boxing match abroad, over his legislative duties as a senator. They are also upset to learn that Pacquiao did not bother to formally ask the Senate to investigate his allegations of corruption in the government before he left for his boxing match abroad. Pacquiao stands to win big money after his boxing match. That should explain his decision to leave his unfinished business at home.

This is where Pimentel enters the equation. His close alliance with Pacquiao is an open secret.

After having been marginalized in the national political scene because of his mediocrity, Pimentel has obviously hitched his political star to Pacquiao in the hope that the latter’s popularity with the electorate, not so much as a legislator but as a prize fighter, will be enough to enthrone Pacquiao in Malacañang.

Under a Pacquiao presidency, the ambitious Pimentel expects Pacquiao to get his advice in every act of state and, in the process, install himself as the de facto president of the Philippines without even a whimper from the unsuspecting and gullible Pacquiao.

After making indirect assertions that the PDP-Laban was founded by his father, the late Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and insinuating that he ought to be considered as the titular head of the party, the younger Pimentel joined the party fray, supported Pacquiao, told Cusi to get out of PDP-Laban, and challenged Cusi to create his own political party.

Surprisingly, Pimentel was silent about Pacquiao’s decision to go abroad while there is trouble at home, and in their political party. Pimentel’s statement outraged President Duterte.

Speaking on nationwide television, President Duterte reminded Pimentel that the PDP-Laban was, to all intents and purposes, a dead political party before 2016.

According to the President, the PDP-Laban returned to the mainstream of Philippine politics only after he won as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.

Thus, the message of the President was that Pimentel should not push his weight around in the PDP-Laban as if Pimentel was responsible for the present strength of the pro-administration party.

The historical record shows that President Duterte is correct. PDP-Laban was in political hibernation for more than two decades before Duterte’s victory in 2016 woke up the party from its long slumber.

As for Pimentel, he was hardly known as a leader of the PDP-Laban before Duterte won the presidency.

Initially, Pimentel’s alliance with President Duterte got him the post of Senate President. However, he did not stay long as the upper legislative chamber’s helmsman. Despite his professed hereditary ties to PDP-Laban, Pimentel was ousted as Senate President after his uneventful, almost two-year old stint.

All that should say much about Pimentel’s touted hereditary claim to the PDP-Laban “franchise” he purportedly inherited from his late father.

In describing Pimentel and PDP-Laban, President Duterte certainly knows what he is talking about.