Padilla: No bad blood between me and Tolentino
SEN. Robin Padilla yesterday said there is no bad blood between him and Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino, whom he had asked to resign as a member of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino days after he formally over as party president.
In a speech during the Luzon qualifying leg of the ROTC Games in Cavite, Padilla said blamed the media and netizens for sowing intrigues between them.
“Alam niyo mag-kaibigan kaming totoo. Pagka nagbabasa kayo ng dyaryo, manood ng social media, pinag-aaway kaming dalawa. Huwag kayong maniniwala doon. Dahil ako sasabihin ko sa inyo, kung may isang tunay na senador sa Senado, ‘yan ho ay si Sen. Tol, Tolentino (I would like you to know that we are friends. If ever you read the papers, browse social media sites, they are making us fight. Do not believe them, because I tell you, if there is one true senator in the Senate, it is Sen. Tol, Tolentino),” Padilla said.
Last week, Padilla wrote a letter to Tolentino, who is PDP vice president for Luzon, and said he may have to resign as PDP member so he can concentrate on his new task as Senate majority leader.
Tolentino shot down Padilla’s suggestion, saying that politics should not be discussed at this time when parts of the country is devasted by typhoon “Carina.”
Padilla assumed as PDP president on Wednesday last week after Palawan Rep. Jose Chaves Alvarez resigned from the post after only serving 20 months.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III, who belongs to the PDP Lakas ng Bayan (Laban), said although it is not his business to meddle in the PDP faction’s affairs, he cannot fathom why Padilla wants Tolentino to resign.
“Ano ngayon kung majority leader si Senator Tolentino? Hindi ba part din ng majority si Senator Robin Padilla? So, anong problema? Hindi ko nakukuha ang problema (So what if Sen. Tolentino is the majority leader? Isn’t Sen. Robin Padilla also part of the majority? So, what seems to be the problem? I really don’t get it),” Pimentel told radio dwIZ last Saturday.
