By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
FORMER senator and PDP-Laban founder Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he was leaving a proposal from the Padayon Pilipino for the two political parties to forge a coalition agreement in the hands of those running his party.
“Wala koy labot niana,” said Pimentel, a former mayor of the city.
He added: “All I can say is that if their word can be trusted, then that should be a welcome move.”
Pimentel said this in reaction to a proposal by Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vicente Emano for the Padayon Pilipino, a regional party founded by his father Vicente, and the administration PDP-Laban to coalesce.
The elder Emano was a member of the PDP-Laban but severed his ties with Pimentel’s party in the ’90s. He formed the Padayon Pilipino, a regional party that subsequently dominated Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental politics, for over a decade.
The two parties also clashed head-on in 2001 when Pimentel’s son Aquilino Martin III, now president of the Senate and PDP-Laban, challenged the then mayor Emano’s reelection bid. The younger Pimentel was defeated by the elder Emano.
Pimentel said he would not take any part in the event that PDP-Laban leaders decided to discuss whether or not to accept Gov. Emano’s proposal.
He said he has not been participating in partisan affairs since he stepped down from the Senate.
“I’m no longer active in partisan politics,” he said. “That matter had better be addressed by those running the party.”
In an earlier interview, Gov. Emano said the proposed PDP-Laban-Padayon Pilipino coalition would be discussed by leaders of his party.
But the matter was not tackled during last week’s Padayon Pilipino convention in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
Provincial board member Gerardo Sabal, the party’s deputy secretary general, said, “Tingali sa sunod nang panahon ma-discuss ang maong plano kay duna pa may nga executive committee nga among gitukod aron maplansa gyud ug maayo kon ugaling dunay coalition sa duha ka mga partido,” Sabal said.
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