He previously served as governor of Albay province in the Philippines.
Prior to that, he was a three-year term representative of the Third District of Albay and was appointed as Presidential Chief of Staff on February 10, 2007 after the resignation of Michael Defensor before he himself resigned on March 29, 2007 to pursue his gubernatorial bid in his province.
He was member of the one of two dominant parties known as the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), although it was known that he ran for governor and won as an independent in the 2007 elections.
In 2010, he left Lakas-Kampi-CMD and joined the Liberal Party and became the party's Bicol regional chair.In 2016, Salceda, who will run as Representative of the 2nd District of Albay in the elections, has decided to bolt out of the Liberal Party and resigned as the party's chairman for Bicol to support the presidential candidacy of Grace Poe.He later defects to PDP-Laban.