Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s appointment as president of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP-Laban) is a contingency move by the Duterte family in case Vice President Sara Duterte is barred from seeking the presidency in 2028, a House opposition leader said Monday.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, House Deputy Minority Leader, made the assertion following the mayor’s installation as PDP-Laban chief over the weekend, as reported by GMA News Online. The party is chaired by detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has been held at an International Criminal Court facility in The Hague since March 2025 on charges of crimes against humanity tied to drug war killings during his presidency and Davao City mayoralty.
Sara Duterte’s presidential prospects are under threat from two impeachment complaints before the House Committee on Justice, which has already found both sufficient in form, substance, and grounds and is now assessing probable cause. The complaints accuse the Vice President of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds as bribe money, threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family, and accumulating unexplained wealth. A conviction before the Senate impeachment court would carry perpetual disqualification from public office.
“Malinaw na may Plan B ang mga Duterte: itong si Baste. Maybe they are anxious that the impeachment proceedings against the Vice President will go on to trial and convict the Vice President before the Senate impeachment court. So, mauudlot ang kanyang presidential bid dahil kasama ng impeachment or removal from office ay perpetual disqualification from running for public office. Hindi na puwedeng tumakbo,” Tinio told reporters.
Sara and Baste are both children of the former president.
Tinio also connected the party appointment to the launch of the Reform Alliance for Good Governance and Accountability (RAGE) Coalition, unveiled by Duterte allies Sunday at Club Filipino in San Juan City, describing both moves as early campaigning.
“Kaya ngayon pa lang may pinopronta ng Plan B ang mga Duterte at magpapatakbo sila ng isa pang kandidato: si Baste. Kaya siya ginawang presidente ng PDP-Laban, at they even formed a coalition. This is to give another Duterte a national platform,” he said.
“We should see these moves as they are: they are campaigning for 2028,” Tinio added.
PDP-Laban deputy spokesperson Ferdinand Topacio countered that Tinio’s framing only confirms the family’s sustained political appeal.
“This is a free country. But Mr. Tinio must know that the choice of Mayor Baste was by popular acclamation within the party, is an affirmation that the Duterte brand of leadership is still preferred by a vast majority of our people,” Topacio told GMA News Online.
Topacio rejected the notion that the Duterte political movement is built on personality rather than principle.
“By saying ‘Duterte brand’, we do not mean a personality cult or a political party centered around one family or politician, but a distinct manner of governance that focuses on peace and order, curbing corruption, an independent foreign policy, enlightened nationalism, and respect for the dignity of the person as the single indivisible particle of democracy, with faith in a Supreme Being that guides the destinies of men and nation,” he said, adding that such qualities are “sorely lacking in the other leaders of the country today, Mr. Tinio included.”
