Quo vadis, PDP-Laban?

In our chaotic politics, where loyalties and party affiliations are tenuous, it’s easy to forget that the ruling PDP-Laban chaired by President Duterte is the same party that pushed Corazon Aquino to challenge dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 snap election.

As an accommodation to another opposition leader at the time, Salvador Laurel Jr., Cory Aquino ran under the banner of his party, the United Nationalist Democratic Organization or UNIDO, with Doy Laurel agreeing to slide to the vice presidency.

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan or PDP-Laban coalesced with UNIDO for the Feb. 7, 1986 snap polls. The PDP was founded in 1982 by Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. to fight the Marcos dictatorship, while Lakas ng Bayan was founded in 1978 by former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.

PDP-Laban founders must be turning over in their graves when current party chairman Rodrigo Duterte fulfilled a campaign promise and allowed the burial of Marcos in the heroes’ cemetery.

Among the PDP-Laban stalwarts during the dictatorship was human rights lawyer Jejomar Binay, who would be assigned by Cory Aquino as officer-in-charge of Makati when she assumed power under a revolutionary government.

In 2014, Binay bolted the party and formed his own opposition United Nationalist Alliance as he prepared for his presidential bid. PDP-Laban then wooed Rodrigo Duterte, a staunch supporter of one of the party’s advocacies, federalism, and eventually fielded him as its presidential bet.

The rest is history – and increasing questions about the ideals that the party was originally known for.

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Those ideals seem to be all but forgotten in the ongoing party infighting, which is expected to come to a head today.

From the peanut gallery, it looks like the head of the party president is at stake in case the “National Council Meeting” called by PDP-Laban vice chairman Alfonso Cusi pushes through in Cebu City at 1 p.m. today.

The party president happens to be Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, who is widely believed to be eyeing the presidency in 2022, running under the PDP-Laban banner.

Pacquiao is hugely popular – one of the few Filipinos with global renown. But it looks like he has party mates who think that while he’s popular as a boxer, they would rather have another standard-bearer in 2022. Earlier this month, the party’s Bulacan chapter even issued a statement, hitting Pacquiao for publicly saying that the government’s response to Chinese activities in the West Philippine Sea had been “lacking.”

Cusi, being the secretary of energy, is an alter ego of President Duterte, who chairs the PDP-Laban. Yesterday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte was the one who had ordered Cusi to call the council meeting, which would reportedly tackle, among others, the status of the boxing icon as “acting” party president.

No Malacañang official has dropped even the slightest hint that Duterte’s party might back Pacquiao for president in 2022. Instead, only two names have been floated as Duterte’s successor: his daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio and loyal aide Bong Go. And only one name has been floated as the possible running mate of either one: Rodrigo Duterte himself.

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PDP-Laban executive director Ron Munsayac told us on One News’ “The Chiefs” last Friday that it was too early to call a national meeting to discuss “administrative matters” in preparation for the 2022 polls – part of the agenda outlined by Cusi. The proper time, Munsayac told us, would be about a month before the filing of certificates of candidacy this October.

Munsayac faced us with a large framed photograph of Pacquiao beside him. So he’s undoubtedly expressing the sentiment of the party president when he said those who would participate in Cusi’s meeting today should just leave PDP-Laban.

In a memo to party members dated May 25, Pacquiao had warned that Cusi’s meeting violated party rules, which state that such gatherings require the approval of the party chairman and president.

On May 29, Cusi issued his reaction: “Although a minority of our party mates are trying to discourage the participation of the members, we wish to reiterate that the assembly is part and parcel of the democratic process that every major political party should embrace.”

He declared that the “National Council Meeting” must be encouraged “as it pertains to one of the basic tenets of PDP-Laban – consultative and participatory democracy.” At least 144 party members are expected to physically attend the gathering, with more invited to join in via Zoom.

Cusi was also among the party members who signed a resolution last March urging Duterte to run for vice president in 2022. Pacquiao called on members to stop such “unauthorized” political moves.

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The PDP-Laban rift can only be good news for the 1Sambayan opposition coalition, which has made no secret of its preparations for 2022 even amid the pandemic. The coalition says unity and a single candidate representing the opposition will provide the best chance of victory against the administration.

Beyond the question of whether Pacquiao would remain in the party, however, people who remember the origins of the PDP-Laban are wondering if the party can still remain true to its original ideals.

Munsayac assured us on The Chiefs that the party remained committed to democratic ideals, respect for human rights and defense of the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The commitment, however, flies in the face of party chairman Duterte’s bloody war on drugs and his “shoot now, ask questions later” brand of law enforcement. It also flies in the face of Duterte’s comments about China being in possession of the WPS, and the arbitral award won by the Philippines being “just paper” that he will toss in the wastebasket.

With the elections approaching, the PDP-Laban will have to firm up its stand on these issues, apart from preparing its defense of the most urgent matter at hand – the Duterte administration’s pandemic response.

Today’s meeting, however, looks more like a coup attempt against Pacquiao than anything else. There’s hardly anything about party ideals; it’s just politics as usual.