Philippines: Pacquiao camp tries to oust Duterte from party’s chairman role

Refusing to recognise the decision, Duterte’s supporters said he was still chairman and branded the other faction as ‘pretenders and attention seekers’

Pacquiao, Duterte and their respective supporters have been trying to wrest control of the PDP-Laban party ahead of elections in May

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:14pm, 29 Aug 2021Updated: 9:25pm, 29 Aug 2021

A row between rival factions in the Philippines’ ruling party escalated on Sunday when a group led by boxing star Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao tried to remove President Rodrigo Duterte from his role as party chairman by electing their own.

Refusing to recognise the decision, Duterte’s supporters said he was still chairman and branded the other faction as “pretenders and attention-seekers”.

Pacquiao, Duterte and their respective supporters have been trying to wrest control of the PDP-Laban party ahead of elections in May by unilaterally electing their own members to leading party roles.

Philippine Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao. Photo: Erik De Castro

The faction supported by Duterte recently booted out Pacquiao as party president, but Pacquiao has refused to step down.

The two men fell out in June after Pacquiao criticised Duterte’s stance on the South China Sea territorial dispute with China, while the latter lashed back by lambasting the boxer’s “shallow” foreign policy knowledge.

Pacquiao and his allies in the party elected Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as chairman, according to one of his backers, the party’s executive director Ron Munsayac.

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