MANILA?The low rating of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro so far in surveys on presidential aspirants is making it difficult for him to attract a running mate in next year?s elections, a high-ranking member of the administration party said Thursday.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said this factor should explain why the choice for Teodoro?s vice president remained ?very unclear? with less than a month to go before aspirants file their certificates of candidacy.

?Gibo (Teodoro?s nickname) is low in the surveys. That?s probably the reason why they don?t gravitate toward the administration,? the lawmaker, also a member of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party?s national executive committee, told the Inquirer. ?You know politicians. They also want to see a winning candidate.?

Defensor described Teodoro as ?the most competent and the most preferred of local government executives and sophisticated voters? among the present crop of presidential hopefuls.

But such a perception was still apparently not enough to boost Teodoro?s ratings.

In the last Social Weather Stations survey conducted from Sept. 18 to 21, the defense secretary registered a meager four percent, which was actually an improvement from his previous 0.8-percent rating. The survey was topped by his second cousin, Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Defensor said he was expecting that discussions on his party?s vice presidential candidate would become clearer by the second week of November at the latest.

The party?s national convention, which would ?ratify? the choice of Teodoro as standard-bearer, is tentatively set for Nov. 12.

?The situation is just too fluid,? he said. ?There?s no positive identification of who will be (the vice presidential candidate).?

The head of the 1,495-strong League of Municipalities of the Philippines?Mayor Ramon Guico Jr. of Binalonan, Pangasinan?said his group?s executive committee preferred to have Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos as Teodoro?s running-mate.

Guico Jr. said the ruling party needed someone like Santos whom he described as a ?celebrity and a crowd-drawer.?

?Our preference really is Vilma Santos,? he told the Inquirer. ?She can raise Gibo?s popularity. She?s had a lot of experience and is a veteran of local government. She?s well-respected.?

Guico, a close ally of President Macapagal-Arroyo, said the LMP?s executive committee would formally endorse Santos to the party leadership before it?s national convention next month.

He said mayors would first talk with Santos, who is on her first term as governor. But Santos had earlier announced that she preferred to seek reelection.