MANILA, Philippines—The ratings of administration standard bearer, resigned Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, may still be in the cellar, but these are expected to go up when the local candidates are officially allowed to campaign and the full force of the Lakas-Kampi's nationwide machinery kick in.

This was according to the party's spokesperson Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez, who said he remained optimistic despite the beating that Teodoro has been getting at the surveys.

“We are hoping that it will shoot up. You have to remember that the party is the largest party. Once the local machinery sets in, it will move,” Alvarez said.

“For you to keep high ratings, you have to have people campaigning for you in the grassroots level,” he added.

He also said that if Teodoro maintains the rate at which his ratings are growing, he could reach 16 percent by February.

Teodoro garnered a dismal one percent rating in the last Pulse Asia survey, and got two percent in the latest one.

Alvarez also insisted that the party was not bothered by the defections of its local candidates, although he was saddened by former Sen. Ralph Recto's move to the Liberal Party.

Recto and his wife, Batangas Gov. and well-known actress Vilma Santos, are moving to the Liberal Party, from the administration party.

Alvarez said Recto would be a good senator and would have made a stellar addition to the Lakas-Kampi senatorial slate.

“We respect that decision if he feels that's his way of going to the senate. I admire him,” he said. “We'd like to see him back in the senate whether as Lakas or LP.”

But he said the local candidates who are leaving Lakas Kampi are mostly those who have low ratings and need to ally themselves with a more popular candidate in order to boost their chances of victory. Those who remained with Lakas-Kampi are the stronger ones who would be able to carry the party's standard bearer, he added.