PDP supports Sara’s DepEd resignation

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte-led Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) has voiced its support for the decision of his daughter Vice President Sara Duterte to resign from the Cabinet of President Marcos.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the PDP said it “lauds and supports the principled leadership of VP Sara Duterte who shows love for the country in every decision.”

Duterte resigned as secretary of the Department of Education and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Her resignations take effect on July 19.

While her father chairs the PDP, the Vice President was never a part of the party.

“We are in solidarity with VP Sara in translating into action our shared values of being Maka-Diyos, Maka-Bansa at higit sa lahat ang ipaglaban ang interes at kapakanan ng bawat Pilipino,” the statement read.

The post was accompanied by a photo of the former president with the four PDP members in the Senate – Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Bong Go and Robinhood Padilla.

The PDP, originally PDP-Laban, was formed in 1983 with the alliances of former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and then senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., both leaders of the opposition against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

In 2016, Pimentel’s son and namesake, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, coalesced with the elder Duterte.

But ahead of the 2022 presidential elections, the party split into two factions: the faction of Duterte and then-energy secretary Alfonso Cusi and of the other led by Pimentel and then senator Manny Pacquiao.

After the Commission on Elections ruled in favor of Duterte, Pimentel’s camp elevated the matter to the Supreme Court. But before the SC could rule on the petition, the Duterte wing opted to drop the word Laban from PDP’s name.

Tolentino, also from Duterte’s PDP, justified the rebranding of the party as an “evolutionary process of a shift in ideology” as the word “Laban” connotes “confrontation or opposition.”