The vice chairman of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) said Senator Manny Pacquiao should leave the party before he could “burn the house”.
PDP-Laban Vice Chairman and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that it is wrong for Pacquiao to destroy the house where he belongs, referring to the senator’s recent statements that corruption increased during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Maybe it is not right to burn your own house. Don’t say something about it. Leave before burning the house,” Cusi said partly in Filipino in a television interview.
Duterte has challenged the senator to name officials and agencies allegedly involved in corruption, and Pacquiao has trained his guns on the Department of Health and its secretary, Franciso Duque 3rd.
Cusi even said that Pacquiao was appointed as PDP-Laban acting president without his knowledge and that of other top party officials, including Duterte.
“We were not informed when they made that decision,” he said.
To recall, Pacquiao and Cusi had a heated exchange of words last May over the holding of the PDP-Laban national assembly in Cebu. Pacquiao opposed the holding of the Cebu event that Duterte called to convene.
In Cebu, the PDP-Laban passed a resolution calling for Duterte to run for vice president in 2022.
