Civil war

By Artchil B. Fernandez

The Du30 – Pacquiao bardagulan has gotten worse and is shaping into a civil war within PDP-Laban, the ruling party. A visibly piqued and irritated Du30 keeps on hitting Pacquiao whenever there is an opportunity. Thrashing Pacquiao is also a regular staple in Du30’s late night show since last month.

“Pacquiao keeps on talking about how we [the current administration] is three times more corrupt [than the previous administration],” Duterte fumed last month. “So I am challenging him: Point those offices that are corrupt… “You have said nothing all these years, but you were all praises for me. Then now you say [we’re] corrupt. Where’s the corruption? Which offices? If you fail to do that, I will campaign against you because you are not doing your duty. Do it because, if not, I will just tell the people: Do not vote for Pacquiao because he is a liar,” he added.

Response of Pacquiao was as swift as his jab. “With all due respect, dear President, but I am not a liar. I have made mistakes in my life, and I learned from them, but there are two things I stand by: I am not corrupt, and I am not a liar,” he replied to Du30.  To emphasize his seriousness the Pacman named an agency. “Let’s start with the DOH. Let’s look into the rapid test kits, PPE, masks, and other supplies it procured. Are you ready, Secretary Francisco Duque, to show the entirety of your spending? Where did the money that we loaned for the pandemic go?” he dared the administration.

Du30, whose expertise includes trash talk among other notorieties, retaliated during the inauguration of the Light Rail Transit 2 East Extension Project. “I expect him to sit in Congress, do not go anywhere, finish and find out the corruption that you are talking about. If you’re only going to report for a month or two, then I would say that you are a shit,” he lambasted Pacquiao. “Do your job. You asked for it. The papers are there. Start investigating, don’t go elsewhere. Comply first with your duty as a senator. Finish that, the papers are there and don’t be absent,” Du30 told his erstwhile ally. “You know, when you are a champion in boxing it does not mean to say that you are a champion in politics,” he berated the Pambansang Kamao

If Du30 expected Pacquiao to back down by raining insults on the boxing champion, he was dead wrong. Before flying to the United States to prepare for his coming fight with Erol Spence, Jr., Pacquaio with stacks of voluminous documents named several government agencies reeking with corruption. “Our government borrowed billions of money to fund the social amelioration program for our countrymen who lost their livelihood. The government allocated P207.6 billion for the second SAP,” he told public as he laid down his case.

“But Mr. President, do you know that part of this amount, around P50 billion, was allocated by the DSWD to a relatively unknown e-wallet application platform called Starpay, which had a build-up capital of only P62,000,” Pacquiao twitted Du30.

“According to my investigation, Mr. President, it appears that the initial disbursement for the Starpay accounts for the 1.8 million beneficiaries amounts to over P14 billion… Why is that only 500,000 out of the 1.8 million beneficiaries have downloaded this?  For those who do not know, you cannot receive or withdraw any amount if you do not download the Starpay app. My question is, what happened to the 1.3 million beneficiaries who were not able to receive the Starpay app — but on the record, received the payouts?,” Pacquiao asked Du30. He also mentioned the Department of Energy (DOE) as well as DOH as among the corrupt government agencies.

An irked Du30 slammed Pacquiao in one of his late-night talk after the Pacman showed the public piles of documents while alleging corruption. “I remember he (Pacquiao) has a tax evasion case and he has been assessed to pay, P2.2 billion ang utang niya na hindi niya binayaran ang gobyerno, for all his fights,” Du30 hit back. “He alleged corruption. If we are corrupt, you, when you cheat government, you are a corrupt official, more so,” he stressed.

Even across the Pacific, Pacquiao responded by expelling Du30’s hatchet man, DOE secretary Alfonso Cusi and his underlings Deputy Secretary General Melvin Matibag, and Membership Committee Head Astra Naik from PDP-Laban. They were accused of “showing allegiance to a political party apart from PDP-Laban…With their expulsion, all rights and privileges of Cusi, Matibag and Naik as members of the Party and all their positions or authorities in the Party are likewise immediately terminated,” PDP-Laban’s statement read with Pacquiao as party president as one of the signatories.

Cusi refused to honor the resolution of Pacquiao’s group and instead called for a National Assembly of the party today (July17). Pacquiao and his group do not recognize the legitimacy of the assembly. Du30 upheld the leadership of Cusi and said he will attend.  Cusi hinted the possibility that Pacquiao might be expelled from PDP-Laban for “accusing the chairman [Du30] of the party of ill-doings.”

Sen. Franklin Drilon earlier predicted that Pacquiao might be removed as party president due to his rift with Du30. That possibility might become a reality today.  Du30 and his faction in the PDP-Laban are likely to respond with an expulsion of Pacquiao’s group rather than expulsion of Cusi and his minions. Reconciliation may not be possible at this time and point for “natapon na ang sabaw” as Du30’s spokesperson Harry Roque metaphorically pointed out.

Its full-blown civil war in the PDP-Laban and each faction will likely field its own presidential candidate in the 2022 election. The implosion of the ruling party is not only possible, it is inevitable.