Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and President Rodrigo Duterte will likely be PDP-Laban’s standard-bearers in the upcoming 2022 elections, the country’s ruling party official said.

PDP-Laban president and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that in their national executive council meeting, party members agreed to endorse the Go-Duterte tandem for Halalan 2022.

PDP-Laban Secretary General Melvin Matibag earlier confirmed that in the same meeting, Go emerged among the frontrunners for the party’s presidential bets, while Duterte led the top picks for its vice-presidential candidate.

Matibag however said Thursday they have yet to finalize their PDP-Laban lineup for Halalan 2022.

“There was an endorsement but it will still be discussed during the National Assembly on Sept. 8,” he said.

The party made the announcement after the PDP-Laban submitted ts new set of officers to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

PDP-Laban Party chairman President Duterte and Cusi, submitted its Sworn Information Update Statement (SIUS) to the Comelec, meeting the deadline set by the election body.

Cusi-led PDP-Laban faction listed the names and positions of the party’s newly elected national officers:

Alfonso Cusi – President
Karlo Nograles – Executive Vice President
Edwin Olivarez – Vice President for NCR
Raul Lambino – Vice President for Luzon
Ben Evardone – Vice President for Visayas
Charito Plaza – Vice President for Mindanao
Melvin Matibag – Secretary-General
Rianne Cuevas – National Treasurer
Christopher “Bong” Go – Auditor General
Astravel Pimentel-Naik – Membership Committee
Noel Felangco – Education Committee
Antonio Kho- Finance Committee
Richard Nethercott – Legal Affairs and Arbitration Committee
Jonathan Malaya – Public Information Committee
Reymar Mansilungan – Livelihood Committee
Maria Katrina Nicole Contacto- Youth Affairs Committee

The new set of officers were elected during the July 17 national assembly.

Earlier, Senator Manny Pacquiao, seen as a top presidential candidate, was supposedly ousted as acting president of PDP-Laban following the election of Cusi, the party’s vice chair, during the party’s national assembly in Pampanga last month.

Before that, three officials, including Cusi and Matibag, were supposedly expelled by Pacquiao’s group from PDP-Laban for violating party rules.

Sen. Koko Pimentel, an ally of the boxer-senator, said Cusi and his allies were supporting an “outsider” of PDP-Laban for the presidency, which they denied.

The Pacquiao-Pimentel faction has denounced the Cusi-led assembly in Pampanga, saying it does not recognize the “purported” assembly at Royce Hotel and Casino, which staged the election of new party officials.