Pimentel group asks SC to reverse Comelec ruling on ‘true’ PDP-Laban

The camp of Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and former Senator Manny Pacquiao on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reverse the Commission on Elections' decision which declared the faction led by former President Rodrigo Duterte and former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as the legitimate PDP-Laban.

The appeal was filed by the lawyer of the Pimentel and Pacquiao group, Jeric Salenga, Executive Director Ron Munsayac, and the party's education and founding member Pines Arcega.

GMA News Online has asked Pimentel's office for a copy of the petition but it has yet to provide one as of posting time.

In a Viber message, Pimentel said among the salient points of their appeal include:

• The Comelec en banc took cognizance of our case without jurisdiction
• Grave abuse of discretion was also committed by the Comelec because they did not even verify whether a quorum was present in each of the alleged gatherings held by the rogue group.

The Comelec accepted the mere unsubstantiated allegations of the rogue group.

In 2021, the Cusi-led wing asked the poll body to declare Pimentel and Pacquiao as illegal representatives of the party.

Three days before the May 9 elections, a Comelec division recognized the Cusi faction as the legitimate PDP-Laban, calling then-President Duterte's chairmanship an "undisputed and well-settled fact."

Last January 27, the Comelec en banc upheld the Comelec Second Division's resolution.

The Comelec division earlier recognized the validity of the National Council Meetings and a National Assembly which was organized by Cusi's faction.

On the issue of jurisdiction, the Comelec en banc earlier said that the body was correct when it took cognizance of the petition filed by Cusi and referred the same to Comelec Special Second Division.

The en banc added that "the 1987 Constitution, Comelec Rules of Procedure or jurisprudence do not provide for the dismissal of an intra-party leadership dispute if the case was initially taken cognizance by the Commission (en banc) and later referred to a Division of the Commission for resolution." —NB, GMA Integrated News