Following Senator Manny Pacquiao’s verbal attacks against the Duterte administration, senior officials of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) have issued a statement calling him a “usurper and hypocrite.”

The PDP-Laban senior officials and national council also urged Pacquiao to resign as party president and leave the group.

“We, leaders and members of PDP-Laban call on Senator Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Pacquiao to resign and leave the party in light of his recent actuations unbecoming of a good and true party member,” the PDP-Laban national council and senior members said in a statement.

They added that Pacquiao’s recent verbal attacks again the Duterte administration over worsening corruption “is clearly driven by his political ambition and is solely designed to gain publicity at the expense of our Party Chairman, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his administration.”

“Senator Pacquiao is not motivated by real advocacy for good governance or concern for the people but purely by his own political agenda. He is a mere usurper and a hypocrite. He does not represent the Party. His conduct does not befit a PDP Laban leader,” the party said.

“PDP Laban remains in unity and accord with our Party Chairman. It is time for Senator Pacquiao to resign and leave the party,” it added.