Padilla resigns as EVP, but stays in PDP

The resignation of Senator Robin Padilla as executive vice president of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan surprised his party mates.

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, a member of PDP Laban, admitted that he had no idea Padilla would resign.

“Senator Bong Go and I were surprised too. But we respect his opinion,” Dela Rosa said in a chance interview at the Senate on Tuesday. “That is his prerogative.”

Padilla earlier announced that he had tendered his irrevocable resignation as EVP of PDP Laban to “concentrate on fulfilling his duties as a senator.”

Likewise, former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, vice chair of the party, said Padilla’s resignation surprised him considering his important role in the party.

Cusi said Padilla had served as the “face of the party in our advocacy for Federalism.”

“I have not talked to him to determine his reasons,” Cusi added.

Padilla made it clear, however, that he intended to remain a member of the party and to continue participating actively in its advocacies. “I believe my decision is for the good of the party and its members, and more importantly, for the Filipino people,” he said. The PDP Laban, he said, has much more to achieve hence, the need for an EVP who could devote more time to its affairs.

He said with heavy responsibilities as an elected official, it would be better if someone else filled his shoes.

“As an incumbent senator with a heavy mandate, I am aware that other duties, including my position as EVP of the party, must give way to my ability to fulfill my sworn duty to the people,” he said.

Padilla was elected acting executive vice president of PDP Laban last August replacing Karlo Alexei Nograles who resigned on being appointed chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

The post of EVP is considered the secondhighest position in the once-ruling party that is chaired by former President Rodrigo Duterte.