MANILA, Philippines — A political analyst said people should not believe Senator Robin Padilla when he said he will not run for public office again.
“’Wag tayo magtiwala. We should be wary,” Associate Professor Dennis Coronacion, University of Santo Tomas Political Science chairman, told The Manila Times in an interview. “Even yung mga pinaka gusto nating (your most trusted) politicians, when they utter these words, I think we should treat it with pessimism,” Coronacion said.
"Most of our politicians are like that, they say they won't run, but eventually, they do anyway. The former president was like that, and there are many others like him. That's why they say that, they know it's part of Filipino political culture. Some play coy because a reluctant candidate has an advantage over candidates who are attention-seeking and overly eager," he added.
Amid calls for Padilla to run in 2028 alongside Vice President Sara Duterte, the former actor posted on Facebook that he no longer has plans to run for office because he wants a peaceful life. He named Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Imee Marcos, Christopher “Bong” Go, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Rodante Marcoleta, and former presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo as his preferred running mates for Duterte.
"Halata naman po na hindi ako nababagay sa mundong ito. (It’s obvious that I do not belong in the world of politics,” Padilla said.
He made the post days after the Department of Justice subpoenaed him in connection with the complaint for obstruction of justice over Dela Rosa’s secretive departure from the Senate.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly claimed he would not run for president leading up to the 2016 elections, changing his mind at the last minute.
Vice President Duterte did almost the same thing. Throughout 2021, she insisted she had no plans to run for a national position, only to switch parties and eventually form the UniTeam alliance alongside Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
