Robin Padilla takes leave as PDP Laban president; Baste takes over

Senator Robin Padilla has taken a leave as president of the Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino Lakas ng Bayan (PDP Laban) in order to “focus on his duties as legislator in the 20th Congress,” the political party said Monday.

In a statement, the PDP Laban said Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, who is the party’s executive vice president, will assume the presidency based on the rule of succession in the party’s constitution. 

With the May 2025 midterm elections over, Padilla said that he would now focus on his role as a senator and “push for the party’s legislative agenda” in the incoming 20th Congress.

“Layunin ko pong ituon ang aking atensyon sa aking tungkulin bilang senador, lalo na sa paghahanda sa pagbubukas ng 20th Congress,” the statement quoted Padilla as saying in a letter addressed to PDP Laban vice chairman Alfonso Cusi.

(I intend to focus my attention on my role as a senator, especially in preparing for the opening of the 20th Congress.) 

The chairman of PDP Laban is former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration’s war on drugs. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News