P-Noy taps Poe for 2016
For President or VP? Aquino won’t reveal yet
TORONTO—President Aquino has initiated talks with Sen. Grace Poe, an independent lawmaker who ranks high in the polls, on her possible role in next year’s presidential election.
Speaking to reporters on Friday during his flight from Ottawa to Toronto, the second stop of his three-day state visit to Canada, Mr. Aquino declined to say whether he had asked Poe to run for President or Vice President.
“The best way to say it is we broached the idea of continu- ing the things that this administration has been trying to do. Now, in what capacity, that’s not yet finalized. And that can also include even campaigning,” Mr. Aquino said.
The President is the titular head of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), whose presumptive presidential candidate, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, is unpopular with voters.
To boost Roxas’ chances, administration allies in the House of Representatives have floated the idea of fielding Poe, who topped the 2013 senatorial election, as his vice presidential running mate.
Many administration allies have realized, however, that Poe is not the solution to Roxas’ unpopularity because under the Philippine electoral system, the Vice President is separately elected: Poe could win her race, but Roxas, who lost the vice presidential election in 2010, could lose his.
The real solution is fielding Poe as the party’s presidential candidate, giving the Liberals a fighting chance to keep power after the election.
But Mr. Aquino was not ready to say what he had discussed with Poe.
“I am not at liberty at this point ... to discuss all of the details of [our talks]. But I have made commitments to her about when to announce it, what exactly to announce,” the President said.
Poe confirmed the talks with the President. “The President and I met and he reiterated the importance of selecting a candidate who will continue the programs of reform in good governance. No mention of what particular position,” she said in a statement sent to the Inquirer last night.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a Liberal Party stalwart, told the Inquirer in a text message that “what seems to be indicated in [the President’s] statement is that the talks with Senator Poe are in their exploratory stage.”
“Without a doubt, a partner- ship with Poe will boost the administration coalition’s chances in 2016,” he said.
But Roxas, he said, remains President Aquino’s anointed one.
As far as the “growing sentiment in the LP is concerned,” he said, Roxas is the party’s candidate for president in 2016.
Poe, daughter of the late “King of Philippine movies” Fernando Poe Jr., has consistently ranked high in the polls, behind front-running Vice President Jejomar Binay.
So far, however, she has kept her cards close to her chest.
On the House Liberals’ idea that she run as Roxas’ Vice Pres- ident, she said nobody from the party had talked to her about it.
Closing in on Binay
In the March 20-23 Social Weather Stations poll on who should succeed Mr. Aquino, Poe posted 31 percent, closing in on Binay’s 36 percent. Roxas got 15 percent.
Poe also emerged as the top choice for Vice President, scoring 26 percent in the same poll.
And her response then was: “I am humbled by the results of the survey. I view it as a positive appreciation and validation by a good number of our countrymen of my work within and prior to the survey period.”
Poe ran as an independent in the 2013 midterm elections but was adopted by the administration coalition.
With less than a year before the next presidential vote, Mr. Aquino has not announced his choice of candidate for Malacañang, leaving Roxas, who gave way to him in 2010 to ensure an LP victory, little time to prepare for a campaign.
In a radio interview last month, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Roxas had told members of the party that he was interested in running for President. There was no comment from Malacañang, which is keenly aware of Roxas’ poll standing.
During his whirlwind working visit to Chicago on Wednesday, President Aquino exhorted Filipinos in the United States to chase the “Filipino dream” of a better Philippines by electing the right leader, but endorsed no one.
Mr. Aquino indicated that he was trying to get a broad con- sensus from all members of the administration coalition on who will be their standardbearer to push their “reform agenda” beyond 2016.
“Actually, it’s still [going on],” he said, referring to the selection process.
“Our coalition, we think, is very, very broad. You have the nongovernmental organizations, the civil society organizations, various peoples’ organizations, established political parties who are part and parcel of this whole coalition that has been promoting the reform agenda. So, at the very least, I think we owe it to all partners to get their inputs in determining who should [ inherit] the mantle [ and lead] this country toward a goal,” he added.
Looking beyond LP
In effect, the administration is casting a wider net, looking beyond the ruling party in its search for a presidential candidate.
Is he open to an independent candidate?
“Possible,” Mr. Aquino said. “I get everybody’s inputs, not just the established political parties but also, again, the NGOs ( nongovernment organizations), the civil society organizations, peoples’ organizations, other support.”
Is Roxas still being considered among the possible administration candidates for President?
Mr. Aquino replied: “The sense I get from our people is that I should listen to the voice of everyone in our organization, and that should be preserved.”
He went on: “If we’re able to preserve that, the push for the chosen candidate will be stronger. So, the No. 1 challenge is: Keep it intact and keep everybody focused. After all, what’s the lowest common denominator? That there is a reform agenda and this reform agenda has resulted in so many results and we want to continue the same.”