Philippines: Manny Pacquiao’s Political Party Pressures Term-Limited Duterte to Run for VP

The Philippines’ ruling party, PDP-Laban, “will not stop” urging current Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to run for vice president in the country’s 2022 general election despite a warning against such politicking by the party’s president, boxing legend and Philippine Sen. Manny Pacquiao, last week, a PDP-Laban official said on Tuesday.

“I think it won’t stop because the clamor is already there,” PDP-Laban Deputy Secretary-General Melvin Matibag told the Philippine Inquirer on March 16 when asked if he thought Pacquiao’s protest against the party’s endorsement of Duterte as vice president in 2022 would curb calls for him to remain in a top leadership position after his single term as president ends next spring.

Several PDP-Laban members and officers signed a resolution with allied politicians on March 12 urging Duterte to run for vice president in the country’s next general election, slated for May 2022. Duterte is PDP-Laban’s current chairman. Sen. Pacquiao, elected president of PDP-Laban in December, responded to the resolution by saying it was “unauthorized” by the party.

LOOK: Sen Pacquiao’s directive to all PDP-Laban partymates after some members urge Pres Duterte to run for VP in 2022 @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/qnrEy44Aj4

— Camille Elemia (@CamilleElemia) March 12, 2021

“I respect our acting president Sen. Manny Pacquiao. But we have the principles we believe in in the PDP such as consultative and participatory democracy. So how can we stop our members who want to sign it [the resolution]?” Matibag said on Tuesday.

“The resolution is staying alive on its own. It has really spread,” he revealed.

“In fact, it appears that instead of ‘the party being divided,’ it’s being shown that it’s actually President Duterte as the chairman of the party (who) is the single person who can unify the party,” Matibag added.

Asked at a March 12 press briefing what he thought of Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi – PDP-Laban’s vice chairman – spearheading the Duterte for VP resolution, Pacquiao responded, “I only have one thing to say: Stand by what you said that we should help our countrymen first, and not focus on politics.”

“Don’t divide the members of the party to serve your own purpose,” he continued. “Unless you’re helping, but if you’re going around to talk about politics, don’t poison the minds of the party. I do not allow it. I do not sanction it. That was not authorized.”

“I am not starting a fight with you. … But I am not the type of person you can fool. Just a warning,” the still-active boxer added.

Pacquiao, a staunch Duterte ally, reignited long-standing speculation that he plans to run for president of the Philippines in December when he was elected president of PDP-Laban in what many observers viewed as a preparatory step to get him closer to the nation’s highest office.