‘Nene’ hands off on PDP fiasco

Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. is keeping a close watch on developments in the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), the party he founded which catapulted the late former President Corazon Aquino and President Rodrigo Duterte to power.

“If invited I will again attend the meeting” he told the Daily Tribune, referring to the 1 September meeting set by the President to resolve the leadership issue hounding the administration party.

However, Pimentel clarified he will not be offering any solution as he will let the party officials and members resolve the issue.

“I have no solution, (not) from me. I am out of partisan issues,” he said.

The former senator was present as the PDP Chairman emeritus during a party meeting early this week attended by President Rodrigo Duterte, the party chairman.

PDP is caught in a leadership tug-of-war between Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, the party president and former Speaker and party secretary general Pantaleon Alvarez on one side and “rogue” member lawyer Rogelio Garcia on the other side.

Garcia’s faction elected him PDP “president” last 27 July, a proceeding declared by the Pimentel group as a sham.

Duterte met the two PDP factions and asked them to unite or part ways. The five-hour meeting still ended in a stalemate.

A party member said notwithstanding the elder Pimentel’s hands-off stance on the squabble, “Nene remains the beacon to guide the party to its political objective.”

PDP did the spadework to get Duterte elected president in 2016.