Gwen Pimentel dropped from PMP Senate slate

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) has dropped Sen. Aquilino Pimentel’s daughter from its senatorial slate due to his quarrel with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile over Senator Manny Villar’s alleged involvement in the C5 controversy.

Ernesto Maceda, Estrada’s campaign manager, confirmed to The STAR that Gwen Pimentel has been dropped from the PMP’s senatorial line-up due to the rising tensions between Pimentel and Enrile, a Senate reelectionist under the PMP party.

“That was part of the reason (why she was dropped),” said Maceda in a phone interview last night.

“She is primarily a candidate of NP (Nacionalista Party) and that party of Senator Villar has been spreading black propaganda against the PMP,” said Maceda.

The dispute between the two senators intensified after the Senate Committee of the Whole recommended Villar’s censure for allegedly using his post to have the C-5 road extension project realigned so that it would pass through the properties of his real estate companies Adelfa Properties Inc., Brittany Corp., and Golden Haven Memorial Park.

Maceda told The STAR that Estrada would announce the final senatorial line-up at the party’s rally on Tuesday in Manila.