MANILA - Sen. Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday downplayed questions if moves to turn the People's Champ Movement (PCM) into a national political party was a back-up plan for his rumored presidential candidacy in case the Commission on Elections sees another group as the legitimate PDP-Laban.

"Ang PCM, partido ng kapatid ko," he said, without specifying who among his 5 siblings controlled the party.

(The PCM is my sibling's party.)

"Matagal na 'yang inaapela ng mga kapatid ko na gawing national yung PCM. Last 2 elections pa, nagkataon na ngayon lang nagawa," he said.

(My siblings have been appealing to turn PCM into a national party for so many years. They have been working on that since 2 elections ago, it just so happens that they finally did it this year.)

Sen. @MannyPacquiao says his siblings have been working to make People’s Champ Movement a national party even before 2016, denies he will use PCM as a back-up vehicle for his presidential bid should Comelec honor PDP-Laban’s Cusi wing. pic.twitter.com/ruz2y2o3E4

— Kat Domingo (@_katrinadomingo) September 8, 2021

Pacquiao said he is not an officer of PCM.

"Umalis na po ako nung naging officer po ako ng PDP," he said.

(I left PCM when I became an officer of PDP.)

Pacquiao joined PDP-Laban in 2012, after he exited the Nacionalista Party. He was appointed as the ruling party's president last year after Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III stepped down from the post.

Two factions within PDP-Laban have been feuding over the control of the ruling party: one group is headed by Pacquiao, while the other is led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.

• PDP-Laban Cusi faction asks Comelec to void acts of Pacquiao wing

The rival faction earlier said Pacquiao is establishing several political parties nationwide in case the boxing senator ends up as an independent candidate in the upcoming 2022 elections.

• Pacquiao building other political parties as 'fall-back', Cusi faction claims

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