PROMDI Presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao today said he was not bothered by the resolution of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) recognizing the faction of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi as the legitimate PDP-Laban party.

“ Sa ngayon nasa kalagitnaan tayo ng patapos ng pagkampanya natin at hindi yan ang iniisip natin, “ Pacquiao said.

He said his focus now is to use the few remaining days of the campaign period to pursue more support to ensure his victory.

The Comelec ruling, according to Pacquiao, holds no weight on his candidacy because his team had already anticipated this scenario so he decided to run under the Probinsya Muna Development Initiative or PROMDI.

Pacquiao assured PDP-Laban members under their wing that Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III would be on top of the situation.

“ Hayaan na muna natin si Koko na sumagot diyan. Kung ano man ang problema, yung mga PDP members na naniniwala sa aming kakayahan ay hindi namin siya papabayaan,” Pacquiao said adding that the Comelec ruling will be challenged before the Supreme Court after the May elections.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Pimentel, the son and namesake of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, the founder of the PDP-Laban said its grassroots party members were enraged over the Comelec's decision “recognizing the hijacking of the party.”

He stressed the petition of the Cusi wing to declare the Pimentel faction as “illegitimate” PDP-Laban was “fatally defective.”

Pimentel said it was only filed for and on behalf of a political party “without any board resolution authorizing its filings.”

Koko said the lawyer who signed the petition Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) requirement did not have an update.

"The Comelec will be asked to explain to us why they referred the fatally defective petition to a Division without even informing us, as we are a party to the case. Why the little secrecy?" he said.

"Those of us who have known only one political party, the PDP-Laban, and have been with PDP-Laban for 40 long years will now be separated from our party because of Sec. Cusi who joined the party 5 years ago, and his group of people who are outsiders and strangers to the party?" Pimentel added.

Only legitimate PDP-Laban members should be allowed to resolve this issue, according to him.

The “padding” of the membership by outsiders and complete strangers to the party should not be allowed, Pimentel said.