Sen. Francis Escudero. INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero played coy about the possibility of running along with Senator-elect Grace Poe-Llamanzares in 2016, saying it was premature to talk about the matter now.
Besides, Escudero pointed out that he and Poe-Llamanzares have no resources to run a campaign in 2016.
“Masyadong nang maraming umaaway sa akin dahil sa mga 2016 na yan, huwag na rin muna siguro ngayon baka may umaway na naman (A lot of people have ganged up on me because of that 2016 issue so let’s not also talk about it now),” he said in an interview Tuesday.
“Masyado pang malayo yon. In fact siguro lahat tayo nagpapahinga pa sa katatapos lang na halalan, siguro kami nagpapagaling pa ng mga sugat ng nakaraang halalan, do’n na siguro ang mode at take namin, hindi na muna 2016 ( That’s still way too far. In fact, maybe all of us are resting now after the elections, healing the wounds caused by the last election. That’s our mode and take now, and not about 2016),” Escudero added.
When pressed if an Escudero-Poe tandem was possible, Escudero said, “Pareho kaming walang pera eh… Mahirap yon sa ngayon, given what we have and what we are now.”
(We both have no money…that’s our problem now…)
Poe-Llamanzares, who ran for the first time for the Senate, topped the recently concluded senatorial race while Escudero only ranked 4th despite his standing in pre-election surveys that put him either in number 1 or 2 spot.