It was as if Senator Robinhood Padilla was oblivious to the bashing that his ally, Vice President Sara Duterte, was getting online for having gone on a “personal trip overseas” while nonstop rain battered and submerged Metro Manila and most of Luzon on Wednesday, July 24. Victims of calamities would tend to find an act like that as insensitive.
Yet, the following day, Padilla seemed to have thought it was already a good time to pick a political fight while agencies, local governments, and volunteer groups were still frantically bringing relief to displaced families and checking on damaged infrastructure and crops. (Could he be thinking he had done his part when his office set up a Carina help desk on Wednesday?)
In the afternoon of Thursday, July 25, he made public the content of a letter he had sent fellow senator and party mate Francis Tolentino. He was “proposing” that the gentleman from Cavite resign from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP).
And he was making this suggestion in his capacity as “the party’s new president.”
“Sen. Francis Tolentino may have to resign from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino…so he can attend to his added duties as new Senate majority leader,” Padilla’s press release said.
In other words, despite the attempt to couch his proposal as “nothing else but to support your good work and mission,” Padilla was clearly kicking Tolentino out. (Read the full quotes at the end of the article.)
Call it eagerness to get down to business, but Padilla could have only picked up the tone-deafness of his party. PDP issued its own press release about Padilla’s assumption of the party presidency on Wednesday, at the peak of the super typhoon, when saving lives was the only news that mattered.
So why the rush?
The fact is, Tolentino’s relationship with PDP had been a brewing storm for some time:
- In April, PDP announced its candidates for senator in the 2025 polls: the reelectionists Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go, and Tolentino, who was its vice president for Luzon, and actor Phillip Salvador.
- In May, Tolentino was named majority leader when a change in Senate leadership occurred. The new Senate President Chiz Escudero immediately deprioritized charter change, which was being deliberated on by Padilla’s committee.
- In late June, Dela Rosa said he and Go would stick it out with PDP because they had “nowhere to go,” a statement interpreted by political observers as a dig at Tolentino.
- In early July, political strategist Lito Banayo wrote in his Manila Standard column that Tolentino would be on the Marcos administration’s senatorial slate, the only PDP bet included.
PDP, of course, is chaired by former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has not only been critical of the Marcos administration but has attempted to destabilize it.
Tolentino, meanwhile, will need the machinery of an administration-backed coalition. Of all the seven reelectionist senators, he is the only one who has not ranked among the probable winning 12 in various surveys.
But, yes, bringing this political tussle out in public could have waited until the nation has moved on from the aftermath of a natural disaster.
And, if only for that, Tolentino won this round in terms of messaging.
“Sa panahong ito, ’wag muna tayong mag-usap patungkol sa pulitika. Mas mainam magtulungan tayo para mapadali ang rehabilitasyon ng mga kababayan nating biktima ng Bagyong Carina, lalung-lalo na ’yong mga nasa mga evacuation centers pa at may mga karamdaman. Marami pang nawalan ng tirahan at nasira ang kabuhayan. Sila muna ang pag-usapan at tulungan natin,” Tolentino said in a statement sent to media.
(Let us not talk about politics at this time. It will be better if we help each other out to fast-track the rehabilitation of our fellow citizens who have been hit by Typhoon Carina, especially those who are still in evacuation centers and those who are sick. Many more have lost their homes and livehood. Let’s talk about them first, and help them.)
Meanwhile, these were the quotes in Padilla’s press release on Thursday:
“Dahilan sa bagong mandato na inyong hinaharap sa Senado, buong pagpapakumbaba kong iminumungkahi na marahil po ay mas makabubuti ang iyong pagbibitiw bilang opisyal at kasapi ng PDP-Laban. Sa ganang akin po lamang, ang mungkahing ito po ay upang maiwasan din natin ang pagkuwestiyon, kung magkakaroon man, sa ating pagiging patas sa pagtugon sa mga isyu, lalo sa mga usaping pampulitikal.
“Makakatulong din ang hakbang na ito upang ating ipamalas ang ating paninindigan na tayo ay walang kinikilingan, at nananatiling independente sa ating pagtupad sa ating sinumpaang tungkulin bilang mga mambabatas.
“Muli’t muli po, nais kong bigyang diin na wala po akong hangad kundi ang patuloy pang suportahan ang iyong mga mabubuting gawain at misyon para sa ating Inang Bayan.”
Translation from Padilla’s office:
“Because of your new mandate in the Senate I humbly propose that it would be good if you resigned from PDP-Laban. This is to prevent questioning of our fairness in addressing issues, especially political ones.
“This would help the party show it is unbiased and independent.
“Again, I stress I wish for nothing else but to support your good work and mission.”
Who was the better one for you? – Rappler.com