Aquino’s choice of 2016 candidate is his alone—Palace

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang kept mum on Monday about Vice President Jejomar Binay’s decision to bolt the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party to put up a new political machinery for his presidential run in 2016.

President Benigno Aquino’s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, insisted that the Chief Executive was in “the thick of governance,” given that he had only 849 days left before the end of his term.

“There’s still those number of days for governance, so we have no comment on the formation of a new political party by Vice President Binay,” he told reporters. “He is preoccupied with governance right now.”

The Palace also declined to comment on reports that Binay was considering Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos to be his running mate.

“Obviously, if that is true, that is his decision to make. We have no hand in there, so we have no comment,” Lacierda said.

Binay earlier announced that he was leaving his longtime party to form a new one that would carry his candidacy for president in 2016.

During the 2013 senatorial campaign, PDP-Laban was rocked by disunity after the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) included former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri in its lineup, much to the dismay of Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Zubiri resigned from the Senate in 2011, shortly before the Senate Electoral Tribunal was to declare that Pimentel was the rightful winner of the 12th and final slot in the senatorial election four years earlier.

Pimentel rejected the idea of belonging to the same senatorial ticket with Zubiri six years later. Pimentel ended up running under the administration ticket.

Lacierda dodged questions about Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, particularly the one on whether he “remains as a viable candidate for the presidency in 2016.”

“It’s a decision that the President has to make [on] who his successor will be or who his handpicked choice will be,” he said.

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