Senator Robin Padilla is set to become the next party president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino said.
Tolentino said the actor-turned-politician is the frontrunner for the post, while former President Rodrigo Duterte will remain as chairman.
“He (Padilla) is not seeking reelection in 2025, so he is in a more comfortable position,” he said in an interview with Teleradyo Serbisyo.
Tolentino said the party presidency will still need to be formalized even as he noted that Padilla was already a ranking party official as PDP’s former executive vice president.
Padilla resigned from the post in May 2023 to focus on his work as a senator.
In his resignation, Padilla noted that the PDP-Laban has much to achieve and thus needs an EVP who can devote more time to the party’s affairs.
Padilla is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes.
Last month, Duterte named the party’s first four official candidates for senator in next year’s midterm elections.
The former president endorsed the reelection bid of incumbent Senators Christopher Go, Ronald dela Rosa, and Tolentino, as well as former movie actor Philip Salvador, who accepted the nomination to be part of the PDP senatorial lineup for the 2025 elections.