Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, who will be seeking re-election in the upcoming 2025 elections, resigned from the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP).
The PDP-Laban was the leading political party during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Just recently, PDP decided to drop Laban (Lakas ng Bayan) as part of its name during its national council meeting and anniversary celebration in Cebu.
The resignation of Tolentino came after the appeal of its new party president, Senator Robinhood Padilla, to resign as Vice President for Luzon and member of PDP in order to focus on his job as majority leader.
Tolentino said he was hurt by Padilla’s request for him to leave PDP. The former Tagaytay City mayor was the first to join the party before the actor-turned politician did.
But Tolentino clarified he remains an ally of Duterte, who is the PDP national chairman. He maintains his position that the International Criminal Court cannot enter the country to investigate the former president and others over the war on drugs.
Last July 25, Padilla wrote to Tolentino asking him to leave the party. But even before that Tolentino said he sent a letter to Rep. Jose Alvarez, the former party president, and told him he would no longer participate in the party’s activities.
Tolentino also informed Alvarez that he would want to work as an independent legislator because he has a different position with the PDP when it comes to the issue of the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The Senate majority leader is pushing for a multilateral approach or talking to several countries to address the maritime issue. However, PDP has been vouching for bilateral talks only with China.
